I have this thing where I love the way my island looks until I go online and see how insane other people make their islands. I don't time hop and didn't go too crazy terraforming. It always takes up way too much time. I admire how much devotion and time people put into their island. I like my island more when I don't go on the internet and see images of other peoples islands.
Anyone feel the same way? I miss the good ole days sometimes of the original Animal Crossing where it was just me and I didn't really have access to the internet to see how other people were progressing. Sigh...I have to get over it I know, but just ranting.
I think a lot of players do. I do really like my town, but sometimes I do feel like it sucks compared to some. I just remind myself that we all decorate differently and that's what makes the game so awesome. I love seeing what others have done. I visit a lot of dream towns, and people are so creative in so many different ways. A great town does not have to have a ton of waterfalls and cliffs to be beautiful. I'm sure yours is great, and I'll check out your dream town, if you like.
I agree that this is super relatable -- I definitely feel this way, even when other people's islands have totally different themes than I have and about areas that would look wildly out of place on my island.
One thing that might help is remembering that usually, when you see pictures and video clips on social media, they can be staged, filtered, curated, etc.; it's the absolute best angle and time of day and lighting and maybe a NPC or villager has been shepherded into the area so they can strike a cute pose or whatever, you know? Whereas you run around your island at all times of day and see all the little parts of it that you haven't gotten to filling out yet, or don't know what to do with yet.
Basically, don't judge the whole of your own island too harshly based on the best of other people's!
That said, though, it can definitely be good to take a step back from looking at other islands if it helps you focus on your own island again.
Honestly, the moment you start comparing your island to others is already big mistake.
My advice remains the same from the other threads I responded. Rather than comparing, why don't you just other islands as means to draw inspiration and ideas?
There were parts of my island that I loved when I first did them that after looking at other people's islands look rather sub-par to me now. I have never been good with design.
The thing that least occured to me that I regret not thinking of the most is how people mix fences and bushes and other things to make much more interesting barriers than I have. I used all bushes or all fences, and in some places both in two rows -screams-. Ah, oh well. My island isn't inspirational, but it isn't hideous either. Will have to do. I don't enjoy the design aspects enough to focus on them.
I see a lot of great looking islands, but their stuff is really closed in, which makes the island feel larger than it really is. I'm wondering if I should do the same since a lot of it looks neat when done correctly. I know what you mean, though. Feels like my island is going to be a work in progress forever. I can't find any inspiration to create the entrance.
i can definitely relate. constantly comparing my island to others was what brought me to go on an almost 2 month-long hiatus as my island had started to feel so mediocre and i was almost ashamed of it.
i won’t tell you to just “stop comparing” because that’s not helpful but instead, i’ll tell you that you’re not alone. the beauty of animal crossing is the fact that we get to choose what we decorate and how; all of those islands that you see on social media are all beautiful, but so are the ones that aren’t. whether your island is heavily terraformed and jam-packed with furniture or on the more natural-side or even something in the middle, they’re all beautiful and are the result of someone’s hard work, which is incredible.
even if your island isn’t like the ones that get shared on social media, as long as you’re happy with your island, then that’s all that matters. we’re all trying our best and there’s no such thing as a wrong way to decorate or an ugly island. comparison is definitely something that i still struggle with, i’ve been trying to learn that instead of saying “my island is so boring” or “i wish my island looked more like that”, i’ll remind myself that my island isn’t finished yet and that ac isn’t supposed to be a competition - everyone has the creative freedom to do what they please and all designs are good. c’:
tldr; all islands are special and beautiful as so much thought and hard work has gone into them. even if it doesn’t look like the ones shown on social media, all islands are great and the only opinion that matters is yours, not what social media or anyone else shows or tells you :’)
My island is pretty mediocre compared to others, but I've found that super cluttered/terraformed islands are really impractical. For example, cottage core islands tend to have thinner streams, which makes it hard to fish. I also like being able to get around efficiently.
I used to feel this way, until (funnily enough) dream addresses came back!
Someone else said a similar thing on this thread, but basically things that look really fantastic in pictures often don't look as good in reality, I've visited a lot of dream towns and although they've all been very creative and well thought out, they're also all sort of same-y and not as impressive in person. It made me feel a lot better, and more like a town that I think looks good might actually be achievable.
It's also good to go to dream towns to see how certain people lay things out, good for inspiration and learning tricks - I found somebody who had made the illusion of a bridge between two cliffs and I was so impressed I made something similar on my island using my own custom designs
Basically, dream towns are more useful than you might think at first.
TLDR; people's towns might look impossibly amazing in pictures but in reality it's achievable for anybody to capture a similar look, they aren't necessarily as good as they seem.
I use to feel the same way, but not anymore. I love actually playing the game (fishing, catching bugs etc) and not just the decorating aspect of the game. It can be hard to actually play in some those pretty Islands due to the terraforming, the amount of items and the lag. I managed to find a happy medium and I am quite happy with my island now (even though it will forever be a work in progress).
Home is where I feel most comfortable in. I visit dream islands that are impressive, but I'm never comfortable in them. Sure, I am awed, but I also feel lost. They are strange lands, dreamed up by other minds, made by other hands, lived in by other animals. They look so good and I can appreciate the work that has gone into making an island look amazing, but I have no attachment to these places because they aren't dreamed up by my mind, built up by my hands, or lived in by animals to whom I have given a personal invitation.
After visiting a dream island, I always look forward to waking in my own bed. It's like coming home. Home is where I belong. Home is where I matter to the ones who matter to me.
I have played too much AC and have lost my mind. Can you tell?
I felt this way until I visited some dream addresses of towns I really, really loved. They were super impractical to play in even though they photograph really well. That's when I decided to make my island look nice, but also make it so that it is super playable. I also hate having space between things that is empty on my island without a purpose. So, I've made it my goal to eliminate as much of those "dead spaces" as possible and it has really opened up my island and made it feel even bigger.
I have this constantly too! I've had to stop looking at inspiration pics online as it just makes me sad and then I don't really enjoy progressing through the game at my own speed. I don't really like time travelling and seeing what other people have done just makes me want to rush the process. I haven't even stepped near terraforming yet as it just makes me worried I'm going to mess up and do a bad job
Some islands are so amazing and yes, I do feel mine is lacking as it is not terraformed to perfection.
Then I go to an island that is beautifully natural and inspiring.
I am not artistic and my island is not amazing but it is mine and I have never said this before but i actually like it and feel proud of what I have done.
I definitely felt very insecure about my own island when I first saw what other players were doing on Reddit. However, I've started visiting dream addresses again and those social media "worthy" islands tend to be highly impractical to me (e.g. I like being guided by placements of pathing and such, but I dislike having literally only one way to get from point A to point B on the map). My island has almost become an extension of myself of sorts, and it works for me and looks good to me. I've even gotten some compliments about it from TBT members when hosting things, which kind of surprised me because I really don't think it is anything special.
I'm already planning my next major island overhaul project for next year to optimize some parameters based on my gameplay thus far and step out of my comfort zone when it comes to terraforming. Now I visit dream addresses to discover what I like/dislike and uncover design aspects I might have not thought of.
Appearances are subjective, and at the end of the day, as long as you're happy with your island, that's all that matters. Hopefully, along the way, you are also enjoying the process of arranging and decorating your island to your liking, as it can be time-consuming, especially if you don't time-travel -- might as well enjoy the whole journey!
I definitely feel the same. I don’t ever browse other sites, except sometimes on tumblr; I follow @Jinglefruit and really have enjoyed seeing his creations as well as others that he follows or retweets stuff from. I find a lot of joy and inspiration from looking at people’s screenshots of their islands; with that being said, from time-to-time I do worry about whether or not I can make my island and my different ideas flow well with each other and I sometimes regret that my ideas are inspired by areas in games and anime and some aren’t things I came up with entirely from scratch. I know it is more important for me to be happy with my island than for anyone else to be, yet part of me still likes some approval (which I am a bit ashamed of even though it is normal to feel this way). I never really compared my island with other islands; I do reflect on my ideas and my poor terraforming skill/ideas though as well as the fact I get stumped/uninspired by a lot of the available furniture when others have been able to complete their island and make them look amazing even with the limited furniture (like @Hobowire; I just loved his island and designs ).
This is how I am feeling with my island for a while I had done a lot and was happy with how it looked. But now I walk past an area and I hate it so much haha I can't even look at it I am redesigning my island a bit at a time. I am nearly finished with the whole front part of my island but for the rest of it I have no idea what to do with it
I feel the same way. I feel like my OCD goes crazy and my island is never good enough to me. I'm about to restart my whole island actually to get better river mouths. Hopefully that helps me!
I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I second (six, seventh?) the whole 'feeling insecure until I went to dream islands thing'. Those islands with great screenshots (that may or may not be gently retouched) can be absolute nightmares to navigate. Not to mention, cluttered to the point of lag. It made me wonder where the actual gameplay was between all the clutter. The aesthetic fencing and tree placement would make something as basic as fishing and bug catching impossible. I couldn't help but wonder things like "What if a super rare bug spawns on one of those unreachable trees?" I mean, I know not all AC players are here for the core gameplay as much as they are for the customization features, but it always felt like it sucked the soul out of the island.
I think at that point the island is a virtual dollhouse or an Ikea showcase. Not meant for actual play so much as showing off. Which is totally fine, just not my personal style of play. It's a lot like The Sims, how there's a chunk of the fanbase dedicated to just building and showing off houses regardless of their gameplay functionality and those who actually play the game. Neither side is a truer fan than the other.
As of right now I'm not exactly happy/proud of my island. There are still quite a few large dead zones I need to fill up, but I am satisfied with what I've completed so far. I think I'm doing a good job of balancing playable and cute, even if it doesn't line up with the cottagecore™ cozy clutter Perfect for Pinterest aesthetic.
I am redesigning my island a bit at a time. I am nearly finished with the whole front part of my island but for the rest of it I have no idea what to do with it 
