Polygon: Animal Crossing players are starting over after dozens (or hundreds) of hours

[Fridaynightcatlady]

I thought it was an interesting read and by the looks of it, very similar stories are shared here in TBT. I'm a bit amazed at how a game that was meant to be relaxing and chill, turned into a stress/anxiety-inducing one. And while I don't want to start a conversation over what's considered 'healthy' gaming (I'm 250 hours in, lol), I've read some unsettling things in this forum. Thoughts?

Full article: https://www.polygon.com/2020/5/16/21258908/animal-crossing-island-reset-second-run-twitter

 

[tajikey]

Personally, I love my island, and would NEVER consider resetting for any reason. To each their own.

 

[Blueskyy]

My island is 5 stars and has random flowers all over lol yet I want to keep it forever because I never want to get rid of my island. I do worry about people that reset out of stress that their island is “complete” or were unhappy with it and want to start over. I mean if doing that makes you happy and you enjoy playing that way great...go for it. But if doing that is adding stress and making you physically unwell, that’s when it’s time for a break imo.

 

[brockbrock]

They could have alleviated much of this if they let us customize everything. I don't understand why there is such a focus on the customization aspect of the game yet there are still fundamental things that are locked when you start the game? I understand that it would be difficult to implement moving the airport, for example, as that changes the topography and layout of the beaches, but why can't we move the river mouths and residential services? It's just silly to me. I also don't understand why there isn't a planner tool in the game. As it stands now you can spend a lot of bells, time and energy terraforming and designing (while the game auto-saves which basically traps you with whatever changes you make) only to find out what you had in your head either doesn't look good or won't fit, etc.

On the flip side, the customization is also optional. You can play the game like you did in New Leaf. The added freedom of creativity isn't forced upon you necessarily. It's there if you want to do it.

I'm set on not resetting, but I understand the people who want to and who go through with it. While I do think there is a very needless obsession with achieving "perfection" (which is subjective), I think it would be more beneficial if the developers gave the players more creative freedom because I think the people who have such great anxiety for these things probably aren't able to easily let go of it.

 

[Uffe]

“But I hated everything I was building. I missed the early days where I just had to worry about planting trees and finding new villagers.”

She can still do that. Terraforming is a choice. You're not forced to redesign your island. And to cry about how you don't like how your island looks and then start over? I think most people who have played New Horizons have at least felt some kind of stress over terraforming or felt the need to compare their island to someone else's. But it really isn't that big of a deal. I think she has some underlying issues and should take a break from the game. This isn't a competition. You're not earning trophies for the best island.

 

[Fridaynightcatlady]

“But I hated everything I was building. I missed the early days where I just had to worry about planting trees and finding new villagers.”

She can still do that. Terraforming is a choice. You're not forced to redesign your island. And to cry about how you don't like how your island looks and then start over? I think most people who have played New Horizons have at least felt some kind of stress over terraforming or felt the need to compare their island to someone else's. But it really isn't that big of a deal. I think she has some underlying issues and should take a break from the game. This isn't a competition. You're not earning trophies for the best island.

I mean, I agree. Unfortunately, I've found that the AC community leans more and more towards competition/finishing up things as fast as they can/having the best islands, etc.

 

[Lady Timpani]

My island is 5 stars and has random flowers all over lol yet I want to keep it forever because I never want to get rid of my island. I do worry about people that reset out of stress that their island is “complete” or were unhappy with it and want to start over. I mean if doing that makes you happy and you enjoy playing that way great...go for it. But if doing that is adding stress and making you physically unwell, that’s when it’s time for a break imo.

Yeah everybody has different play styles, but if you’re playing to a point that it makes you stressed I think you should really alter it or put it down. I think there is some FOMO with it— people see these really well-done islands on social media and think “mine will never look like that” and get really stressed out about it. It’s okay to have aspirations for your island, but again, I don’t think a video game should be causing that much stress.

 

[Dormire]

TBH. Knowing how daunting terraforming is, I wouldn't want to subject myself to another round of terraforming hell. I'm not resetting nop.
I can't fathom how people can flush that much hours easily. I'd be burnt out if I know I'm gonna redo everything from scratch ( cataloging too)...

 

[Blueskyy]

TBH. Knowing how daunting terraforming is, I wouldn't want to subject myself to another round of terraforming hell. I'm not resetting nop.
I can't fathom how people can flush that much hours easily. I'd be burnt out if I know I'm gonna redo everything from scratch ( cataloging too)...

I got burnt out just straightening the jagged edges of my natural cliffs when I first unlocked it. I don’t really terraform anything now lol.

 

[lolli8223]

I restarted after 3 days of playing for one main reason: I ended up with peaches aka “butt fruit” when I wanted cherries. I saw my other friends who started after me getting native fruit they were happy with and I was jealous.

Could I have dug up all my butt trees and replaced them with exotic fruit? Yes but I decided to pull the trigger. Also I got Paula as my sisterly and I was hoping for two villagers I was at least neutral on.

So I restarted, got a map I liked better than my first and cherries - the fruit I wanted on the first try. I also got Cherry and Buck and I fell in LOVE with Buck, so much that I hunted down his amiibo card amidst the NH madness. Zero regrets.

Would I do it again at this point in the game? No. I spent like 400k moving houses bc I had them all out of alignment, lost 100k seeing if I could center my museum on my ramp/path (nope).

The people I see wanting to start all over now just aren’t patient enough (or wealthy enough) to move everything to where they would want it.

For me I did minimal terraforming, I didn‘t create new ponds that didn’t exist before or erase existing elevations and I’m super happy with my island. For people like me I could see where having a good starting map is helpful but you should kinda know looking at it whether you can envision things going in certain places. Or maybe I”m just too type A and that comes naturally only to folks like me.

 

[FireNinja1]

Huh, interesting. I know that resetting after putting a significant amount of work into one's town was a pretty common occurrence in New Leaf, but I don't remember any media outlet producing an article about that. (Notably, people would ask others to hold their villagers or hybrids or the like while they reset their town; that's mainly how I recall how many people wanted to reset their towns.) The stuff that the Polygon article discusses isn't something that's new within the Animal Crossing community, or at least within TBT.

There were quite a few people who were involved with making really nice towns even back in New Leaf. New Horizons is obviously different, partially due to the existence of many more customization options such as relocating plots and bridges and terraforming. To be honest, I'm more surprised that someone decided to make an article about this than the fact that people do reset their islands / town after investing significant amounts of time into their old islands / towns.

I haven't really invested a lot of (read: any) time into terraforming; my island is a huge mess of loose furniture, hybrids, and other things that I just can't be bothered to organize. Most of the stuff I've done for my island is for pragmatic rather than decorative reasons (e.g. placing Nook's right next to the airport.) But I think that's just me.

 

[brockbrock]

TBH. Knowing how daunting terraforming is, I wouldn't want to subject myself to another round of terraforming hell. I'm not resetting nop.
I can't fathom how people can flush that much hours easily. I'd be burnt out if I know I'm gonna redo everything from scratch ( cataloging too)...

Totally this. A few weeks ago I spent a few days just frozen in melancholy because I was seriously considering starting over. It basically drained me of any motivation to play. Then I just decided I would keep playing and make do with what I had. I haven't really had a moment like that since then. Are there things I wish I could change about my island that I can't? Yes, but I am so far really enjoying the challenge!

 

[Dewy]

I think most of the problem comes from what other players put online.
It is very intimidating to see the incredible creations people have and it’s hard not to compare your own island to that. Which causes feelings of inadequacy and the desire to restart

Meanwhile, I have friends irl who don’t use online forums or look at Reddit, tumblr, etc. and they are very happy to keep playing at their own pace, with an “undeveloped” town.

 

[Noctis]

I would be lying if I said at one point I felt like restarting but I didn't because I had accomplished so much or too much that there's no way I would wanna start from zero again.

I would also be lying if I said I've never been stressed. I would stress about getting the villagers I wanted, getting all the wishlist items to I can start working on certain areas of my island and so on forth.

While watching 5 start island videos is a great way to get inspired it's also well not so great. I have a huge chunk if development in my island and watching these videos made me regret doing such and such and oh why didn't I think of that. This pretty much had to do with a lot of terraforming and waterfalls while having a foresty island. While I can still implement such thing in my island I can't as I would have other plans of my own. Times like this made me have an extra switch and copy to implement what I couldn't in my previous island. But when people come over in my island and say how pretty it is makes me feel extremely happy I forget about everything else.

 

[Maiana]

I'm never going to reset this island. However, I am considering getting a Switch Lite for another island.
Maybe if I was still starting out and didn't have over 200+ DIYs,, but I'm too far in to reset now. Also, I would not want to go through the first few days pain again.

Another thought: I think I've said this in another thread, but some people are taking AC as a competition. Who has the most hours, who has the best island, who has five stars, who has everything completed.. (sadly, i've felt this exact way too).
I found myself creating a town for social media purposes and not for myself, and I needed to look at things from a different angle/perspective. This resulted in me tearing down all my cliffs, trees, and rivers and starting fresh. Although it was a process, I feel good about myself and where my island is at the moment.
I'm kinda rambling lol, but I sorta think it is a good thing some people are restarting. It's allowing them to get back into a space where they want to rebuild their island for themselves and not for others. Reaching that point where you're stressed about playing the game is awful and I hope in the future I, along with others (who are resetting/redoing for that specific purpose) do not have to go through it again.

 

[Matt0106]

I see those images on Instagram, of these flawless islands, but I have to treat it like I would with anything on social media. They probably spent way too many hours reshaping everything and probably TT (nothing wrong with that, but you're lying to yourself if you think it doesn't make a difference).

My island is not the prettiest. It doesn't have all the flowers in the right spot, I didn't do THAT much terraforming yet, I don't have my museum up on a level 3 cliff after relocating it multiple times, and I don't have beautiful big waterfalls at my airport entrance. BUT, that does not many that my island, or anyone else's island for that matter, is in any way inferior. I'm still proud of what I've made in almost 400 hours of playing, and you better believe I'm not gonna restart my island all over again.

That fact that people are feeling sick over this is scary, and I think it goes to show that anything on social media can put false perceptions in our heads. As long as you're happy with how it looks, you shouldn't give a hoot about what other players think.






This is Animal Crossing; possibly one of the least competitive multiplayer games out there. So don't make it a competition.

 

[Khte]

I feel this and am dead set on resetting my island.
However, I put so much time and effort into the game and will only reset it once I've sold off my villagers and transferred all the things I want to keep to my other island.
It's partially a need to fit up to the social standard of a 'good island' and partially because I just have a habit of restarting games;
I've restarted Pokemon, Skyrim, ESO, Kingdom Hearts, Minecraft- DOZENS of times. Literally every game I've ever owned- restarted.
I don't know WHY I have such a need to restart the games I play- perhaps it's a desperate grasp to start fresh because I love the game and I don't want to lose that feeling of 'playing for the first time'? Idk but it's become inevitable and I'm not surprised I have the GNAWING need to restart my AC game too.

 

[senbeiiscool]

I think the customizability has been a blessing and a curse for this game. I think it's mostly trying not to get so wrapped up in the social discourse of what's considered a beautiful island that everyone should strive for or not. There's a bunch of people on places like Reddit that share their islands and many more people who say "my island sucks" and resetting because they suddenly hate their island. I think people need to try to disconnect from some of the stuff they see online so they're not as pressured to terraform or "reach a certain standard". Quite sad really :/

 

[kojuuro]

Terraforming is stressful, and if you keep looking at other people's work on Twitter, Reddit, etc. and compare it to your own island it can be even worse. I think sometimes people forget that it's not a race to the finish (cause there is none) but also your own island has the potential to be as good as other people's you see. You can take inspiration from photos and stuff and put your own spin on it. Personally, I didn't like my island much but I've learned to work with it the best I can. I have so many hours on it, there's no way I'd want to start from scratch again. For others though that might not be the case and if restarting makes them feel better, I say go for it.

 

[Maiana]

videos is a great way to get inspired it's also well not so great. I have a huge chunk if development in my island and watching these videos made me regret doing such and such and oh why didn't I think of that.

I felt that.. I would watch so many tours and get extremely upset about how their town looks like a masterpiece and I just have a chaotic mess lol.