Is the community of AC becoming toxic?

[Darcy94x]

These type of threads only add to the toxicity. Instead of calling attention to something negative, how about shedding light on the positive.

I'll start: I've met a wonderful group of forum members that are incredibly reliable and completely trustworthy. I'd happily make them a best friend, leave my gates open, and know they will do no harm. They were perfect strangers (and absent the forum, still are) 3 weeks ago...

This comment literallyyyyyyy

I’ve not really come across any bad people on animal crossing. In fact I’ve met a handful of GREAT people and I love the TBT community. I’m part of Facebook groups and I read and Reddit but this is the only place I actually feel comfortable posting.. I love the fact we have a review button!

 

[Suicune]

I don't think it's too toxic, and as a lot of people have mentioned too, TBT is definitely one of the more positive spaces for this fandom. That being said, I think this community will get a lot better once the initial excitement for the game dies down after a year or two and the more hardcore AC players stick around. People will settle into a groove and AC etiquette will be more normalized and widespread at that point.

 

[Hirisa]

I think there are undercurrents of "toxicity" in every fandom, including AC, but they aren't new or attributable to New Horizons specifically. They were here during New Leaf and earlier and from what I can see, their behavior isn't any different now. It's just that astronomically huge mainstream popularity places a big old magnifying glass on the community and its newcomers and makes the old timers twitchy. Pretty soon the forums are filled with those old timers moaning about when the forums were heaven's suburbs, and not the festering pits of horrible people like they are now. It's a weird cycle..

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

It depends where you go. On twitter, yes. On tumblr, likely. On facebook, probably. On discord, I haven't tried it but I imagine it is prone to toxicity.

I keep all my trading and AC talk on these forums only. This is the AC community to me and it is awesome! Especially compared to how I was treated in other game communities, like SMITE and WoW

 

[Selky]

Not going to lie, this is a subject that's been weighing on me the past few weeks.

I think certain areas you can expect a high level of toxicity as the forum structure cannot compensate and the amount of users it inhabits. Places like reddit, twitter, etc.

On one hand, I do feel like TBT has become more toxic than I remember it being in the past. However, I don't genuinely know if that's just poor memory or more differences of when I came here.
I came late to New Leaf and I frequented a different forum at the time before eventually coming to TBT more full-time. By that time, I think TBT was more moderate in activity and the initial wave of players that will die off had. So, things seemed calmer for what my memory serves.
New horizon has already surpassed New Leaf in sales and I'd say TBT has naturally gotten a much larger following/word of mouth than before as well. I don't think the quarantine would change the toxicity that has occurred but I do think it's enabled the frequency to occur more..since people are able to be home and online more.
On the last note, I'm not going to pretend to know the hours and effort the team puts into this site. I can only imagine how much so, in no short terms, do I think it's any small feat. But I do feel like I notice small differences in moderation in certain folders. I'm not honestly sure if certain moderators stick to certain folders but I do feel like I notice certain ones in certain areas more and the ways certain drama/toxicity is handled seems varied on that.

Overall, I think I'm just overwhelmed right now and maybe that's due to quite a lot of negativity and toxic instances over the last few weeks popping up. So, I do think lessening the amount I'm here may be for the best, limiting viewing only certain folders, and maybe checking back when the series has had more time for things to slow down (people to die off playing like in new leaf's case).
I think TBT became my preference due to certain forum and customization abilities. But to some degree, it may just be too well known right now to where using some of the lesser known chill forums with less capabilities may be better for me for now.

 

[solace]

I don't think toxic is the word I would use right now regarding the AC Community but rather redundant. If you look at the title of the threads, and the nature of the subject it's already been asked and answered.

Other than redundancy, I don't think TBT has joined the ranks in other communities. And if one is measuring it as a toxic game among other games/genres, well, AC is a far cry from those types of games. LOL

If you have played a FPS (comp level with your SO) you will know the definition of rage, salty and toxic.

 

[Krissi2197]

Only if you're on Twitter.

 

[Babylon]

I wouldn’t describe the TBT community as toxic. Toxic is when the negativity is absolutely unavoidable and bleeds into your real life. It causes you to be self-conscious, destructive and defensive. You can totally 100% avoid toxicity on TBT by not clicking on drama threads disguised as discussion threads. There are certainly threads that have this air about them on TBT, but often they stick out like sore thumbs. Honestly, I’d say that this thread is dangerously close to being one of them.
At worst, I’d say TBT can be tense and discussion threads like this are often passive aggressive with a pinch of “holier than thou”.

The AC community as a whole isn’t toxic. I’d say it’s just diverse because it is so mainstream. You have adults playing and you have kids that are 7 playing. You have creatives playing and MOBA or FPS gamers playing. The diversity is going to create pockets of communities within the fandom. TBT is the marshmallows-in-our-hot-chocolate pocket. Usually when you see crazy drama or negativity it’s from people who belong to multiple pockets and not exclusively TBT. Or they are new to TBT and haven’t become accustomed yet. It is likely these people will not continue to engage as long as people who do fit into this community. You can’t begrudge the growing pains TBT is going through. How can someone know if they’ll fall into the same mindsets unless they make a profile and post?

 

[Zura]

I have admittedly become more toxic just by being around the toxicity of the community. I often have to leave for periods so that I don't end up being consumed by it. It's the constant negativity, ranting, Nintendo shaming, etc, etc. I get sick and tired of hearing nothing but complaints about the smallest of issues. It's enough to make anyone annoyed and a little toxic.

 

[driftwoodisle]

No, not at all in all honesty. I'm new to this fandom, but so far I've seen very little toxicity. It's nothing compared to like, steven universe lmao

 

[trashpedia]

Tbh not really depending on where you look. TBT has gotten a little feistier but it’s really not that big of a deal, and discourse or negativity is usually caused by a couple of people. Twitter, on the other hand, is just trash all around. I left Twitter more than half a year ago due to how nasty and aggressive people can be on there. I feel like it doesn’t help that Twitter encourages tweeting anything that immediately comes to mind rather than encouraging people to think and be more thoughtful about their responses.

In general, the AC fanbase really isn’t that bad compared to other canvases imo. If you think it’s bad atm, wait until you reach kpop or certain anime fan bases like BNHA lol

 

[SunshineKitten]

compared to any other game, no.

compared to pre-New Horizons, of course! better selling game = more people = more tension.

but not at all toxic the way people are in other communities. play a DOTA game if you actually want to see toxic. AC is the least toxic gaming community i’ve ever been a part of.

 

[R. Planet]

Compared to the Nintendo and pro wrestling forums I've belonged to...

This place is a gumdrop forest full of magical little elves.

 

[voltairenism]

LOL no.
I've been in the kpop fandom and I can say for sure that the big majority is toxic and awful. Some people there go out of they way to make someone's life miserable just for having a different favorite group. I remember I had a twitter group with some cool people, just hangin out, and someone made their way into the group and kicked everyone out and deleted it, then posted on their twitter that it was what we deserve, as being 'flops' (basically we didn't have many followers). I've seen people doxxing a girl because she said they didn't like an idol. Creating fake accounts with korean models pics to catfish someone they don't like. I can go on and on... The ones that seem good are apologetic of a lot of problematic stuff. It's hell. Oof.
Some people saying you cant 'time machine go brrr' is meh but it can be ignored.

 

[Kitsuragi]

every big fandom is gonna have its bad parts. i don't think animal crossing has that big of a bad spot to be noticeable... unless you hang out in REALLY large groups, like on facebook.

LOL no.
I've been in the kpop fandom and I can say for sure that the big majority is toxic and awful.

i left the k-pop fandom and stopped listening to it just because of how TERRIBLE it is.

 

[UglyMonsterFace]

My only exposure to the AC community has been these forums. And I think that for the majority, it has been extremely positive and amazing. The only times I've really seen toxicity is when other topics are brought up and then there are disagreements, things get really ugly in here and hateful unfortunately, which is completely opposite when the subject stays on AC and doesn't veer to political or other subjects. But then again TBT has been my little bubble. I haven't explored the community beyond the forum and I think I'm happy to accept ignorance as bliss as to what else is out there. As long as it doesn't touch our little community here, I am fine.

 

[voltairenism]

i left the k-pop fandom and stopped listening to it just because of how TERRIBLE it is.

me too! it's that bad, it ruined all my fav groups for me. animal crossing fandom is paradise compared to that.

 

[Xara]

recently, my only exposure to the community is via these forums, twitter, instagram and tiktok (though this one probably doesn’t count lmao). while there’s definitely been a lot of complaints and some negativity going around, i don’t think the community is toxic. sure there are some bad apples in the bunch, but you’ll encounter those regardless of what community you’re apart of. for the most part, i think the majority of people in the ac community (on this forum in particular) are lovely ;v;

 

[Hesper]

It's fine.

Just remember that we're seeing large numbers of people, and in larger groups you get larger streaks of jerks, because...numbers. Additionally, as I was mentioning yesterday, one of the psychological reactions to fear is clinging to ingroups and resenting outgroups (look up terror management theory), so even as people are online more and less distanced from the weird quirks of internet interaction, they're also experiencing a pretty scary time and it's not unreasonable to think they're taking it out on the 'faceless' others of the internet. It's not a rational thing, but it sure do be a real (or at least repeatedly replicated in documented studies) thing.

 

[Bioness]

No, Animal Crossing isn't a toxic community, nor do so think it could ever be one simply due to the nature of the game.

League of Legends, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, World of Tanks, Overwatch, Undertale, ARK, Rust, and Minecraft all have more toxicity in a single hour than Animal Crossing could ever reasonable have over its lifetime.

Basically if a game is competitive and popular, people will tear at each other like animals. Undertale is a special case, it is like the Steven Universe of video games fandoms.