Thoughts on the morality of amiibo villagers in sale?

[Candi]

I've been wondering about this for a while myself. How do you guys feel about trading amiibo villagers for authentics? In New Horizons it's very easy to get the amiibo villager back right away, since there's no cycling before they're allowed back in, while someone may have worked very hard to get that authentic. On one hand, you're giving them a villager they really wanted, but on the other, you're not really putting any effort in yourself. You could also use it to get ridiculous amounts of bells or NMT, if you just cycle out the same villager over and over to different buyers. I think it might be good in some ways, because if the popular villagers are more readily available, some people won't have quite as hard a time of getting them, and they won't be so ridiculously expensive, but on the other hand it could feel like cheating. What are your opinions on it, and why? I'd love to hear from everyone, because this is a really interesting dilemma to me.

Edit: To specify, this isn't trying to say that amiibos are bad. If you buy a card and use it for yourself, that's fine. I wanted more to discuss using them in transactions. I, personally, dont have anything against amiibos in general, but I wanted to know what other people thought.

 

[Krissi2197]

How can you tell if the villager you're trading for is "authentic" or not? People can just lie and say it's a "natural" villager and not an amiibo one if they really wanted to.

It isnt cheating. People paid money for the game and people paid for the amiibo so they're allowed to do whatever they want. If Nintendo didnt want them to be used this way they wouldve added a cycle system like in NL.

 

[Romaki]

I mean, you might as well just randomly find them. There's no way to "earn" them, people who collected all amiibo cards invested a lot in them. I got myself three amiibo cards and I'm so thankful that I can easily kick three villagers out with them, but I don't care about the economy.

 

[The Hidden Owl]

I bought and traded for all 200+ of my amiibo cards. They are natural, as they're literally implemented into the game as a feasible way to attain villagers through the cards you have. I'm not kicking people out, as I'm waiting for my other villagers to leave and then take their place, but still. I don't see how it's really a moral issue. If you were hacking, then maybe so. But that's not the case.

 

[Fey]

Frankly, I think the higher prices are absurd no matter how the seller got the villager.

Saying a villager is worth more or less depending on the method gets a bit complicated imo. For example, by that reasoning a villager from someone who doesn’t TT to cycle through villagers quicker should also be considered more authentic (because that arguably takes more time and is therefore more effort)

 

[ForbiddenSecrets]

I hardly think an officially licenced Nintendo product and a system built into our game counts as cheating. Also, the idea that amiibo villagers aren't authentic is a little divisive for no reason. They are all real and act exactly the same.

In the long run I think it's good for villager trading since it will fill demand and lower cost. Plus where to we draw the line? Are TT villagers cheating? Is trading for villagers at all cheating because someone didn't 'earn' them?

 

[Larimar]

What's with threads lately asking about the ethics of officially advertised and built-in game mechanics xD

Basically just what everyone has already said: It's an official system Nintendo implemented. If we were talking about hacked villagers? Yeah that's a problem, but these are cards that can be obtained in legitimate ways that take the effort of either spending real world money or trading/recieving from others. Even more difficult to get legit ones now because the prices skyrocketed lately

 

[JKDOS]

Other than using the amiibo for greed, such as for NMT gain or other profits, there is no harm is using them if you're trying to get yourself your favorite villager, or even give them away, like I plan on doing when adoption bugs are patched.

 

[Candi]

How can you tell if the villager you're trading for is "authentic" or not? People can just lie and say it's a "natural" villager and not an amiibo one if they really wanted to.

It isnt cheating. People paid money for the game and people paid for the amiibo so they're allowed to do whatever they want. If Nintendo didnt want them to be used this way they wouldve added a cycle system like in NL.

I think taking SCs of when they're on the island could be good enough evidence, but that leaves campsite villagers at risk, since amiibo villagers are moved in through that method as well. It seems like it would be a really tough thing to combat, in all honesty. It's not really something worth combating imo.

I hardly think an officially licenced Nintendo product and a system built into our game counts as cheating. Also, the idea that amiibo villagers aren't authentic is a little divisive for no reason. They are all real and act exactly the same.

In the long run I think it's good for villager trading since it will fill demand and lower cost. Plus where to we draw the line? Are TT villagers cheating? Is trading for villagers at all cheating because someone didn't 'earn' them?

I agree wholeheartedly. The cost of villagers right now is insane, which has to do with a lot of inflation obviously, but even in NL circa mid 2014 it was insane. I assumed other people would see it as taboo though. Earning something is subjective, as well. You're right in that regard, but your last part is a little bit of a reach.

 

[alyssaisrad93]

I mean Amiibo villagers are authentic, you won't be able to tell the difference between an Amiibo villager and one randomly found on an island tour or something.

The game's villager mechanic is clunky and outdated. To find the specific villager you want you have to hope a friend/random person on the internet has them moving out at the same time you have an empty plot, or go on tours to find them. And moving out specific villagers is harder than ever, and those that don't TT are left in the dust. The campsite is unreliable (I've had no campsite visitors since the first one) and letting a random villager move into the plot is risky and usually not rewarded. Animal Crossing has always tried to force people to play the game a certain way and every game people find a way around it, which is why you see villagers being traded on the internet.

In New Leaf it took me years to get the villagers I wanted, but in NH I have been able to use Amiibo's to get almost every villager I want into my island. Does it take away some of the fun and challenge of randomly finding them? Yes, but I visited dozens of islands and didn't find any characters I liked, so I took the easy route. Nintendo made Amiibo cards for a reason, so no, it's not cheating.

 

[Taj]

Loads of people have explained this better than me, but I will agree that while it may take the fun out of the game when "hunting" for somebody, it saves you a lot of time and resources to get them. We paid money for out cards, and therefore I think it's "our" right to "use" them as we see fit. I don't necessarily agree with amiibo cycling (scanning in amiibo and selling them for stuff) but it's up to the player not me, and I won't try to stop them

 

[Candi]

Loads of people have explained this better than me, but I will agree that while it may take the fun out of the game when "hunting" for somebody, it saves you a lot of time and resources to get them. We paid money for out cards, and therefore I think it's "our" right to "use" them as we see fit. I don't necessarily agree with amiibo cycling (scanning in amiibo and selling them for stuff) but it's up to the player not me, and I won't try to stop them

I think my only real issue with it is the cycling for bells like you said, because not only is it profiting off of the broken economy, it just feels dishonest. Otherwise, I really have no issue with amiibos in trade. I'm surprised at how many people arent bothered though, but I guess thats a good thing!

 

[fallenchaoskitten]

Morally? I think if you have desired amiibo villagers you should either give them away or sell for half their selling price, not auction or ask for much. You literally can just get them again.

I say this as someone with a Stitches and Marshal amiibo.
And yes, I plan on either giving them away or do dramatically discounted price. Because I would like some NMT to do my own dreamie hunting and since I dont TT it will be taking me 3-4 irl days to do this for other people, a small fee is very morally justifiable.

 

[niko2]

I think it's weird already to trade villagers.

 

[Dizzardy]

I don't get where the "fun" is supposed to come from hunting for a specific villager. You're just doing a lot of busy work to end up in the same place as someone who didn't do any of that. (through either randomly getting the villager or using an Amiibo card) Also I really don't see how a specific villager moving into your town is something that you earned. Random chance counts as earning something now? If somebody wins the lotto, does that mean they earned it?

Even if random chance did mean you earned them....the odds of getting the villager you want are something like 1 in 400? It's not exactly like getting a shiny in Pokemon.

To me it just seems like there are people who want to look down on those who use Amiibo cards, just because they think they did something special by loading up Nook Islands until they found the villager they wanted.

and in terms of the villager economy, that's not something Nintendo ever intended to exist (if they did we'd have an in-game system for trading villagers, like Pokemon) so I don't care what happens to it.

 

[Mairen]

I think using amiibo are alright! They are an official accompaniment to the game afterall. It allows us to put the villagers that we like into our game. If you had a certain favorite villager that brought you absolute joy to have in your town (like wolfgang is for me), it would take quite a bit of luck to find them out of over 300 villagers. And even then, some people may never naturally run into their favorites if the dice were constantly having bad rolls in that regard. So for personal use? I'm all for it! I don't see any harm in it at all. I mean yeah, you don't get that same surge of excitement from randomly finding them on an island. But that's really just the excitement of having luck rolled in your favor and winning out from it. In the end, the important thing is having a town full of villagers that you are proud and happy to have around.

In regards to the issue of using an amiibo to constantly scan in and then sell popular villagers for a huge profit...? I would personally never do that. I'd probably give them away for free, just to see people smile and to spread some love around. But I can't condemn the people who do use amiibo for profit. It's entirely up to them on how they use them. We cannot stop people from selling villagers, even if we think they are overpriced. It's a free market afterall >.<

 

[John Wick]

This complaining about people using amiibo's is getting old.

I paid for my amiibo's and just because I scan them in, doesn't mean they aren't 'authentic'.

I don't make any money from it, and three days of crafting for the villager as well as what I paid for the cards should give me the right to move them in.

I shouldn't even have to craft a thing!
I paid for the card!

People being put down for using their amiibo's they purchased with their own money, and back in New Leaf, allowing a multitude of people over to buy special items from RV's, free of charge.

 

[bobthecat]

How are they not 'authentic' when they're part of the game? I'm really lost on this sorry

if anything it will help calm down the insane nmt prices going on right now that people seem to be ok with. If you take away those amiibo villagers those said villager will become even more expensive

 

[Braixen]

there's definitely no difference in 'authentic' villagers
I've worked super hard trading and communicating with several other people to get my complete amiibo card collection, and I want to say I've made nearly 70-100 trades via mail! (you can check my rating, there's a lot!)
and it was over maybe 2 years? so it's not like there's absolutely no effort put into amiibo villagers, I worked hard to trade for and get each and one of them, and I'm very proud of my collection!

a villager is a villager and there's no stamp to say that one was gotten through amiibo or not. and like a lot of people have said, you can literally just lie and say an amiibo villager isn't one and there's no proof, so even if it was wrong for whatever reason, there's no way around people using them

Post automatically merged: Apr 14, 2020

How are they not 'authentic' when they're part of the game? I'm really lost on this sorry

if anything it will help calm down the insane nmt prices going on right now that people seem to be ok with. If you take away those amiibo villagers those said villager will become even more expensive

this is a good point also! can you image how expensive Marshal would be without amiibo cards? WITH amiibo cards he already goes for a fortune!

 

[ayeeprill]

honestly.

this is a GAME, it's not a real life economy.
it's not that serious.

(this isn't really directed at you just FYI, just in general!)