I don't have any restrictions regarding museum donations. It takes long enough to find all of these things, and New Horizons has consumed enough of my gaming time since it was released as it is. I always donate the first of any creature I catch to the museum so that I'm free to sell any others caught in the future. I've caught a few fish and bugs on friends' islands and absolutely would not refuse to donate them just because of that, especially if it's a rare catch like a golden stag or barreleye or something. My fossil exhibit has been finished for months, but my friends and I would share fossils when we still needed them. I also have no problem with visiting friends' islands, or allowing friends to visit my island, to purchase art from Redd. Heck, I've straight up just purchased particular pieces of art here on the forums too.
I'm in no hurry to finish my museum so it only has things from my island so far, but if I do suddenly want to finish it some day I'd probably try to get the fossils myself but trade for the art since buying them from redd takes forever. But if we could trade fish I'd do that in a heartbeat since I'm not terribly into the fishing aspect of the series
I have no problem completing my museum with help from others. I caught most of the SH bugs at friends islands early on in the game. I also like to go on fishing/bug tours to my friends island, especially for those critters that have low spawn rates on our own islands for whatever reason. During NH's Stringfish/Golden Trout season I opened my island to a few people because my island had a strangely high Golden Trout spawn rate... but a 0% Stringfish spawn rate I find hunting for critters fun with friends anyways!
We dress for the occasion too! Tansan's night fishing Giant Trevally tour
My fossils were all found on my own island or mystery tours though because that was easy enough! I'll definitely need help finding artwork from other islands because I'm not waiting around for Redd lol.
i honestly,, don’t really have any rules for myself regarding this. personally, i would prefer to catch stuff on my own island during whatever date & season it is but i’ve also caught a few critters on a south hemisphere island where the season was,, very different lmao, so i’m not all that strict about it if an opportunity arises.
as for fossils and artwork, i found the majority of the fossils by myself on my own island but i did buy the last few that i needed to complete the exhibit. and with artwork, i bought/traded for the majority of them minus a few pieces aha c’:
I'm 99% sure my current art pieces were all from Redd on my island, but since I completed my fossil exhibit a while back (May 31st it seems) but I wouldn't mind trading art for what people need, or fossils for some other items as currently every fossil I dig up gets assessed then sold...
For art, I have to get it myself from Redd. Fossils have to be on my island or a NMT island. Bugs and fish can be from other islands because I'm still the one who has to catch them.
I treat AC as a single player game (even though Nintendo clearly wants me to do otherwise) so I will be completing--assuming I do actually manage to complete--the different collections in the museum by myself. I'm not a completionist, so I don't mind if I never finish putting everything together.
Tbh I’d rather farm Redd with timetravel than trade, because it’s more fun for me. Just me and my own game, trading is a bit of a hassle
I’ll probably start farming him as soon as I complete the fossil and fish exhibits
I’ll do the bugs last because bug catching is no fun in this game everything is too rare lol
Once I get all the fish and diving creatures of the current month in my NH and SH islands I’ll probably do a timetravel fest to complete the museum, I love having a complete museum
I got all the fossils organically but I straight up bought almost the entire lineup of real art from a lovely member. The reason being that I knew I would still need to use Redd on my own island to get his nook mile stamps - and it'll be easier to gather fakes via my own Redd in order to do that. So doing that basically just gave me a boost to 100%
I'm pretty sure I bought a bunch of fossils near the beginning of the game, and I've bought a few pieces of art on here but in general I prefer to time travel and cycle Redd myself - it means I can get the nook miles achievement, and also when I get spares I can sell them on here to make some extra tbt! I also went to a SH island quite early on to catch some fish and stuff but now I tend to stick to my own island for fishing/bug catching
I find it fun talking to other users and getting help in trading/buying items to complete sets or so on. Me and my friend send each other items that we are looking for if they end up in our nooks cranny or find in a balloon etc. And to me I see like oh wow I really wanted that item and I'm glad I could get help from a friend and whenever I see that item I will be happy knowing that it was from them
I don't time travel...but, that's about the only rule I have. I also don't trade, but that stems more from the fact that I simply don't do multiplayer in games too often. I play with my brother, and sometimes we will trade items...but that's about it. I've acquired one or two of the fossils from him...and he invited me to buy from his Redd the other day...because, he already had all the art he was selling. Otherwise...one day at a time, just trying to find stuff naturally. Which is working fine. My fossils have been finished for a while now...and my bugs/fish are as close to complete as they can be without the seasons changing. Literally only need about two or three more for each. Art is going to continue to be a chore...but, yeah...I'm not going to buy or trade for any of it online. Just not my style. It will take as long as it takes.
I wanted to find all the fossils myself and didn’t accept any from other people. In terms of art, I want to collect them all myself too, buying from Redd rather than trading. If my boyfriend has Redd on his island I’ll go to his island and buy some art.
I find hunting for critters fun with friends anyways!
