An Article

[John Wick]

The pressure to terraform.

I could have lived without that feature.

AC is now the opposite of relaxing.

I do terraform, but not to extremes and certainly not to out-do anyone else.

 

[Xara]

as someone who hasn’t touched the game properly in weeks due to feeling intimidated by all the pretty islands out there, i definitely am not judging. it’s just a game and i’m aware of that but at the same time, it’s just one more situation that i feel inadequate in and sadly, these feelings come and go rapidly. one minute, i’ll feel calm and hopeful that one day i’ll feel good about my island and then the next, i’m seeing pictures of islands with beautiful terraforming and creative ideas that i would’ve never come up with and i just feel sort of,, dumpy lmao. i’ve taken a bit of a break from the game until i feel i’m in a better mindset and find myself no longer overwhelmed or intimidated but these feelings really suck, especially for something that’s meant to be fun and relaxing - it all just has started to feel like a bit of a contest lmao

 

[silverdragania]

if i were in the same situation as them i would feel as stressed out but i'm not and i don't compare my own island to others to meet expectations i just roll with my own and have a country like feel to my island i'd be happy to invite any and all to see how it is and show how country like it is

 

[Aleigh]

I feel this. I get so unmotivated when I see other islands because mine looks like utter crap compared to them. The only thing keeping me from resetting the entire thing is the fact that I hate starting in the beginning for literally everything, so once I start something I can't just redo it or I will never play again. That and I share an island with my mom and she'd be devastated too if she had to start over. Anyway, not the point. Long story short social media has def played a part in this just like it has everything else. I don't even wanna share my dream address at this point because I don't want people to be disappointed when they visit.

 

[eko]

Having low self esteem and comparison issues myself, it's surprisingly not as bad when it comes to animal crossing. There's many beautiful/cool/creative islands where I think "man my island sucks" and really want to restart... but when I remember the island is my own personal vibe that doesn't fit into any of the popular aesthetics, it takes away a huge amount of stress trying to make it "perfect" which is especially challenging with ocd. Somehow across 500+ hours the only time new horizons made me cry was resetting the game for 3 hours on release night while my friends were posting about how much fun they're having (ended up just settling with a mediocre map because I was so irritated by replaying the long introduction, sorely regret it now).

 

[Emmsey]

I get the whole feeling like you want your island to be better the whole no amount of terraforming will quite recreate the island you had in your dreams. I don't ever feel the desire to nuke my island. For me it isn't about decoration its about the villagers and interactions with and between them. I am mid heavy terraforming and as I don't timetravel its taking an age and looks an absolute mess but this morning I had a solitary lily of the valley grow on my cliff's and that gave me hope that I would get back there.

 

[Arckaniel]

Terraforming is really overwhelming, and not everyone is as talented as some people who do it quite well, so I understand how they compare their islands to others because that in my opinion is normal, that's human nature, we do compare ourselves to others and their works, consciously or unconsiously, but different people have different ways of coping up to those negative views on their own island...

Those who react as they do are just as valid as people who also compare their islands to others but not really care that much and still enjoy the game regardless, because not everyone has the same emotional capacity as others do, and some people are more sensitive than others...

I hope they are able to cope up, learn to love their own island, and enjoy the game now though, if they still feel the same way towards the game then I strongly suggest for them to turn away on the game as it's not healthy to continue feeling that way...

I also compare my island to others, as I'm also not that good at terraforming, but I still enjoy it regardless because I genuinely like what I'm doing, like I design my island for myself first and others second, so as long as it looks good to me even though it may not look as good for others, I'm already happy with that because I built that and I worked hard on making that area look decent lol...