Selling Hacked Items Rant

[CowKing]

I really want to vent about this but I honestly don't know where to vent so I hope y'all don't mind if I put it here.

I just want to say that I don't have anything against hacking, but only if it's for private or personal use. If you're using hacks for profitable gain or for online economical reasons, however, that's a whole different story.

Recently, selling hacked tickets, items, and bells for real-world money is becoming more common in the AC community, and it sucks because I feel like it's ruining the online economy and it undermines the work me and many other people go through to get the items fairly. I work my butt off to hunt and sell fish bait, and it sucks that someone can just hack it in and sell a stack for 10 bucks. (Yes, it's that expensive)

And then it gets worse when people in the YouTube community are endorsing this behavior. Recently, one of my favorite Animal Crossing streamers took a sponsor for a site that hacks in anything and sells them to you. Whenever someone tries to call him out on it, he just responds with "then just don't use the service lol it's safe" without even acknowledging that not only does this break Nintendo's EULA, but it's also extremely immoral. I get that he was paid to say that, but still, it's kinda scummy he's promoting something like that, and that situation lead me to post this rant.

What do you guys think about this whole mess?

 

[Mairen]

I'm not against hacking for personal use. Do what you wish with your game, but yes, I agree that the moment you start bringing those items online and distributing them to the community it can wreck all kinds of havoc. It's very unfortunate that we cannot do anything about this, but there's the difficulty with the issue of proving someone is marketing hacked items or legitimately gained items if the person is denying it. Keep your spirits up my friend, there are still fair players out there.

 

[Eirrinn]

Augh seriously? Who was the YouTuber?
I don’t wanna be that person but I feel like now that animal crossing is suddenly more mainstream it’s bringing in more toxic behavior

 

[Rosie Moon]

Augh seriously? Who was the YouTuber?

I’m interested to know too! That’s pretty bad that they’re promoting something like that

 

[moonolotl]

Hacking was a thing in new leaf too of course, but i think now that the games a lot more popular its become a bigger issue, sadly. Its something we just have to deal with and its something that would probably happen to any game like this. People suck
Clarification: im fine with hacking, i used to hack in NL but only to decorate my town. Undermining the hard work of people who actually worked to get stacks and stacks of materials really, really sucks.

 

[Hedgehugs]

Lowkey kind of curious who that youtuber is as well, if you don't want to publicly call them out, mind sending his/her name in PM's?

And are people really buying bait for 10 bucks? Woah. With how expensive NMT's are, I kind of don't want to be apart of the online economy any more.

 

[CowKing]

Lowkey kind of curious who that youtuber is as well, if you don't want to publicly call them out, mind sending his/her name in PM's?

And are people really buying bait for 10 bucks? Woah. With how expensive NMT's are, I kind of don't want to be apart of the online economy any more.

If it's not against the site's rules, I can post the Youtuber's name

But, yeah, fish bait is SUPER expensive rn, it's cheaper to buy them in bulk but still, yikes

 

[Lazaros]

I'm not against hacking for personal use. Do what you wish with your game, but yes, I agree that the moment you start bringing those items online and distributing them to the community it can wreck all kinds of havoc. It's very unfortunate that we cannot do anything about this, but there's the difficulty with the issue of proving someone is marketing hacked items or legitimately gained items if the person is denying it. Keep your spirits up my friend, there are still fair players out there.

have to second this. if you want to use it for personal reasons, because, say, you can't invest a lot of time in the game like you would have if you were younger and not saddled with work, or if you just want to treat yourself to something, i don't see a problem with it. it only becomes a problem if people start to circulate those hacked items, selling/distributing them for "low" prices that are affordable for almost anyone (last time i checked 400 NMT were € 15,- on ebay) and those people taking the bait because they think they have that money to spare. it basically keeps inflating prices to an extend where people that uphold "old values" of making their money via ingame grinding are at a severe disadvantage and usually can't even trade stuff like they normally would, because those prices - and the market that adapts to them - is just not affordable for them.

I don’t wanna be that person but I feel like now that animal crossing is suddenly more mainstream it’s bringing in more toxic behavior

honestly? thinking back to the whole "seeding" stuff in WW, it wasn't "not toxic" before, but the toxicity certainly wasn't as large as it is now. the animal crossing series gaining new fans is good, but from what i've personally seen on my twitter TL alone is ... not the best. yes, not everyone is the same, everyone has different preferences, but the moment i see people tweeting about how "time travelling is bad and time travellers are ruining the game", "here is why all villagers in AC are lovely and you are ugly on the inside for hating barold that absolutely does not FIT with your island theme" and wanting to make "x specific thing in animal crossing that is very nsfw" and their followers encouraging them, it just boggles my mind?

i recently saw someone charge 200k entry fee bc one of their villagers was giving out DIY recipes for some item. i'm out of here.

 

[DJStarstryker]

Unfortunately hacking is part of many video game communities, not just Animal Crossing. Not surprised there's hackers trading stuff. There's no way to stop them from doing it. If you don't like it, I feel like some people are more obvious than others about their hacking/cloning. If they have multiple copies of super rare, hard to get items, and not only that but can somehow restock them super fast (TTing can get you things quicker, but not as fast as hacking), then they're likely a hacker or at least know someone who is and is getting stock from them.

Hacking was a thing in new leaf too of course

Yep, I think people need to remember that. It's not just the people who hacked to remove rocks or do other town decorating-related stuff. If you got the 7-11 set or the Fueki set in New Leaf via trades, for example, there's about a 99% chance those items you got were hacked and/or cloned. They were Japan only, limited time, and non-reorderable. Why would people trade their legitimately obtained ones to you?

 

[Fey]

Definitely think your frustration is justified!

I have a pretty clear “code of honor” for my personal playstyle, so when I did hack in
NL, it was only for aesthetic purposes. To give an example: There was not a single flower or tree that I hadn’t grown myself, and I made sure to move things ingame whenever possible instead of just plopping them down with the system.

I did this because it felt right and earned that way, but also because it kept the game fun. It might not be enough for consolation, but I’m pretty sure people who do what these hackers are doing—or pay real money for it—are getting a vastly inferior experience in the long run.

 

[Eirrinn]

If it's not against the site's rules, I can post the Youtuber's name

But, yeah, fish bait is SUPER expensive rn, it's cheaper to buy them in bulk but still, yikes

You can DM and then if you want. I just wanna make sure I don’t watch them LOL

 

[tajikey]

What about the use of Amiibo stickers or cards not officially licensed by Nintendo? Just curious if the same angst applies to those.

 

[CowKing]

honestly? thinking back to the whole "seeding" stuff in WW, it wasn't "not toxic" before, but the toxicity certainly wasn't as large as it is now. the animal crossing series gaining new fans is good, but from what i've personally seen on my twitter TL alone is ... not the best. yes, not everyone is the same, everyone has different preferences, but the moment i see people tweeting about how "time travelling is bad and time travellers are ruining the game", "here is why all villagers in AC are lovely and you are ugly on the inside for hating barold that absolutely does not FIT with your island theme" and wanting to make "x specific thing in animal crossing that is very nsfw" and their followers encouraging them, it just boggles my mind?

i recently saw someone charge 200k entry fee bc one of their villagers was giving out DIY recipes for some item. i'm out of here.

Yeah, I don't remember TT being controversial back then, but then again I joined AC in the NL days and I wasn't really apart of the online community at the time, but still. It's so stupid that people are policing how you play a game that's meant to accommodate to your own personal playstyle.

Post automatically merged: Apr 15, 2020

What about the use of Amiibo stickers or cards not officially licensed by Nintendo? Just curious if the same angst applies to those.

I don't really have the knowledge on the topic, but I'm kind of fine with it if you're trying to get in villagers that you just can't find no matter what (Marshall's amiibo is like over $100, it's insane). But selling them off is a big no-no.

 

[Stil]

I don't really have the knowledge on the topic, but I'm kind of fine with it if you're trying to get in villagers that you just can't find no matter what (Marshall's amiibo is like over $100, it's insane). But selling them off is a big no-no.

I disagree. If somebody spends $125 on a Marshall card, then they can do what they'd like with it.

 

[CowKing]

I disagree. If somebody spends $125 on a Marshall card, then they can do what they'd like with it.

I mean if you wanna sell Amiibo Marshal, go for it. I don't consider that bad in any way. You're completely right, they worked to get that money to buy the Amiibo. I'm talking about the people who make their own Amiibos and stuff, the ones not licensed by Nintendo

 

[Stil]

I mean if you wanna sell Amiibo Marshal, go for it. I don't consider that bad in any way. You're completely right, they worked to get that money to buy the Amiibo. I'm talking about the people who make their own Amiibos and stuff, the ones not licensed by Nintendo

Oh.. If somebody is MAKING amiibos, then thats a different story.

 

[CowKing]

Oh.. If somebody is MAKING amiibos, then thats a different story.

Yeah, that's what I meant, lol, sorry for the confusion!
I'm 100% okay with people selling villager Amiibos!

 

[tajikey]

Yeah, I don't remember TT being controversial back then, but then again I joined AC in the NL days and I wasn't really apart of the online community at the time, but still. It's so stupid that people are policing how you play a game that's meant to accommodate to your own personal playstyle.

Post automatically merged: Apr 15, 2020

I don't really have the knowledge on the topic, but I'm kind of fine with it if you're trying to get in villagers that you just can't find no matter what (Marshall's amiibo is like over $100, it's insane). But selling them off is a big no-no.

10-4. I tend to agree. Buying a sticker Amiibo for personal use should be fine, but buying a sticker to move a villager in, then selling the villager...that seems questionable.

 

[Lazaros]

Yeah, I don't remember TT being controversial back then, but then again I joined AC in the NL days and I wasn't really apart of the online community at the time, but still. It's so stupid that people are policing how you play a game that's meant to accommodate to your own personal playstyle.

I don't really have the knowledge on the topic, but I'm kind of fine with it if you're trying to get in villagers that you just can't find no matter what (Marshall's amiibo is like over $100, it's insane). But selling them off is a big no-no.

i don't even know where the controversity around it came from, other than from - speaking from my own experience with some "friends" - it being an unfair advantage for the time traveller, because they get their hands on certain stuff way faster and can, in turn, make money easier, pay their loans of faster, etc. i wasn't around for anything until NL already was pretty much dead meat, simply because i wasn't very social and not as fluent in english. the AC community in my country came and died with WW.
everyone has their own reasons for it, and mine just pretty much is: i'm quarantined, i need something to do, and if someone is telling me i have to fish the same 10 sea bass out of the vast animal crossing ocean for the next 5 hours, i'm simply going to combust. and once i can go back to work, i won't have time for NH anymore, so I'd like to get it done now before it turns into a year long project before i delete it all bc i came to hate it.

and honestly, if you really want a certain villager (like, say, marshmallow squirrel) and people are suddenly inflating the actual card price because ... ya know, they gotta make money, then by all means, go buy nfc cards/chips and give yourself your dreamies.

 

[Aleigh]

Are people still hacking items? I feel like its super unfair to us who don't know how / don't want to hack items