Animal Crossing: New Horizons fans are probably pretty used to hearing about the game's Stalk Market by now - where dedicated players will hunt down others' islands with high turnip-buying prices to make a killer profit each week - but some are taking online trading deals to whole new levels.
There are a fair few things in the game which are highly sought after - things like hard-to-find recipes, rare furniture, and even the villagers themselves. Desperation to snag the very best of the latter has kickstarted a new, underground scene (well, it's just on the internet but we like to imagine it's all a little darker than that), where players are trading Nook Miles Tickets to get their favourite animal on their island.
Nook Miles Tickets, which can be purchased for 2,000 Nook Miles a pop, allow you to visit a random, mystery island which can potentially bring with it a brand new villager. The villager that appears is also random, but some players are willing to keep trying their luck until they eventually stumble across their desired furry friend.
Churning through tens or hundreds of these tickets for one particular villager can be hard-going so, as spotted by Eurogamer, some people have resorted to spending real-life money for stacks of Nook Miles Tickets to speed up the process. It gets even more crazy, though, because there's also a way to definitely secure a particular villager and prices here go through the roof.
If a desired villager is leaving a player's island, they'll go into a state known as 'in boxes' (when they're just about to leave for good). If you visit the player's island at this time, you can try to convince that villager to come and live on your island instead.
Thanks to this, players with desirable villagers on their islands are charging set amounts of Nook Miles Tickets for others to come and secure their favourites. Eurogamer reports that, in Discord servers, less popular villagers can sell for anything around 20-40 Tickets, while community favourites like Raymond can sell for more than 800. That's 1,600,000 Nook Miles' worth - or who knows how much real-life money if you bought those Tickets that way.
It's a crazy, crazy world out there.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 66
Shut them down Nintendo. Do it now.
You spend Nook Miles, not bells for Nook Miles Tickets.
@LinktotheFuture Thank you for correcting them. I was beginning to wonder if I've been playing wrong.
@LinktotheFuture Beat me to it.
See, this is why I just bought NFC chips, way cheaper with less headache.
This is just absurd.
Just imagine how much time you have to spend to just buy 800 NMTs - I'm tired after purchasing just 5 of them in a row...
Ouch...
Here in Indonesia, there are a lot of peoples offering something like that.
Real money for choosen villagers.
So i understand now.
Some peoples played ACNH not because they like the game entirely.
They are opportunist who change the fun of video games into business purpose.
They don't care with the fun of the games.
They just only care with the money they can get.
@Anti-Matter I'm guessing you never played any game with an auction house, or pokemon. People will sell anything as long as there's a market.
Nook Miles mystery island tours basically became gacha-tours.
Either you grind 2000 miles for a ticket and hope that you get a desirable villager from your excursion, or you source the tickets elsewhere.
But with over 400 villagers and 8 new ones in particular exclusive to the game due to not featuring amiibo cards, this becomes a serious grind to get the villagers that you want, hence this economy emerged.
This is a big oversight on Nintendo's part, people are just mindlessly grinding for a chance at a character, and getting real money involved for doing so. And even then, it's still at the mercy of whether or not you have a space on your island for more villagers, as they stop appearing on tours once your island is full.
There are multiple reasons why reddit dramas and political vote-whoring bans are equally futile against MTX trends... but this is probably among the most eloquent ones.
You can't do away with the effect if you ignore or even victimize the cause.
@mesome713 No one is forcing you to do this. Well if anything, Nintendo is, should they shut themselves down?
My friend has Raymond. Didn't even know he was popular till he told me.
@mesome713 nintendo hasn’t shut down the pokemon cash market and that has been going on since gen 4 I think. No way they’ll shut down this one.
First there was an article about timeskipping, now this....do people really hate playing this game how it was made? Have some patience!
If you absolutely must have a certain villager, just make your own NFC tag, seems easier and you will get some free DIY recipes everyday.
@Spoony_Tech
Raymond has had an unusual effect on the community.
Being the first smug cat in the series helps, as does the heterochromia.
https://youtu.be/mo6LulKqAbw?t=7886
Im lucky, Raymond was one of the first ones to move into my island
I don't see any problem with this, from the perspective of the game. If people want certain villagers, they are going to find a way to get them, and other people will find a way to exploit the situation. That is human nature. It's not part of the game, though. It's not like loot boxes or real money auction houses.
Personally, I enjoy the randomness of the villagers showing up in the game, and there is no specific villager I feel I must have. My daughters have Merengue and Bob in their town just from mystery Islands they have visited. My only truly cool villager is Tia, but That is cool with me. Other people feel differently, which is cool too.
@mesome713 why? It’s not hurting your game is it?
@Swaz Its time to shut Nintendo down. Let's do this.
Nook Miles Tickets makes the world go ‘round. 🎟
I definitely want Raymond in MY island...
@RupeeClock It also helps that Raymond is a new villager with no available Amiibo card.
I'm not sure why Nintendo didn't have a new run of Amiibo cards ready to go for this game's release. Missed opportunity to make some money on their part. This whole market wouldn't exist if they had and will collapse whenever they get around to it.
@LUIGITORNADO It's not. But it hurts Nintendo, so we have to shut them down.
Or, and bear with me here because this is a big one, why not just put up with the random selection of villagers you already have? They really don’t make a big difference to how the game plays out.
@Anti-Matter It's sad that it's become like this. AC is supposed to be a relaxed gaming experience, not a way to make a quick buck.
This is all so ridiculous. Nintendo intended the online experience to be casual, fun, and friendly. Instead it resembles a cut throat stock market.
I just wish I could off Ken and Baahbera with one swing of my shovel.
I definitely prefer to play this game within smaller groups. I’ve dipped into the wider community through the nip market, and... well, it’s a wild world out there (pun... intended).
To me, the charm of the series has been in carefully crafting a personal home away from home and maybe sharing the experience with a few friends, not trying to break the internet with audacious displays of wealth and ‘prestige animals’. But maybe the weight of the market will break me. Zucker the Takoyaktopus recently moved to my island and apparently the Octopuses are highly sought after. Maybe I’ll sell him on to some faceless Discord server one day and become another cog in the system.
Raymond was literally the first to visit my campsite.
@Gamerboy19
Your first camper is always a smug villager, so it was a much higher chance of it being Raymond specifically.
Likewise, your two starting villagers are always a sisterly and a jock, and your first three move-ins are always a lazy, a normal, and a peppy.
Holy christ. Anyone want to buy my Raymond? He's yours for the bargain basement price of 500 tickets
Some people take games way too seriously
I actually just had Audie move in by chance so I was kinda excited about that. I would love to get Marshal and Raymond though.
This seems like so much trouble though for something not really that important to the overall game. I'd rather just take what the game gives me.
@vyseofhr
Isn't the only real value of these tickets that they let you re-roll villagers?
Because let's be real, it only takes a small number of tickets to get resources like wild life, crafting materials, rare flowers, bells, fruit, etc.
Nook Mile Mystery Tours quickly run out of value after the first few visits, they stop being surprising.
I'm part impressed by the ingenuity of it all and part feeling this is all a bit ridiculous and extra 😂
Ugh. I can't pick my neighbours in real life and I don't care in AC either. Learn to get along with others...it's not that difficult.
Is this really news Nintendo Life?
Why is Raymond popular?
I’m beginning to worry that I am a Tom Nookin the making.
My island still looks pretty basic, having put all my time and money into my own house, only just getting the shop upgrade tomorrow.
In terms of villagers I AM keen to get the ones I really want, maybe because I haven’t played the series before so want the best possible experience from it.
With that said though, I wouldn’t be paying for them, will just have to play the long game. I found Ankha today and not sure I want to keep her, so will offer her to others but I won’t be expecting the sacrifice of your first born to take her!
I have Raymond on my village. He is quite the hipster and gives great gifts! I didn't know he was a popular one.
Sucks that Raymind is so popular, I need him for his office theme.
@Anti-Matter
Tbh, don't blame the seller, blame the buyer. If no one bought, no one would sell. Buyers make market.
I really don't have any deep connections to any of the animals, except Drago is the most adorbs ever and I was lucky to find him on mystery island.
I have a few amiibo cards from back in the day (hoping to get Goldie to stay). Otherwise I like the random villagers. Cranston moved into my town a few days ago, and I love him (I had never had him in an AC town before)!
@RupeeClock Absolutely, it's frankly ridiculous that people are prepared to spend the effort to collect literal millions of Nook Miles just to score a crabby cat as a resident.
I mean, I don't even like him that much.
"Desperation to snag the very best..."
And here I was thinking I was nuts selling all my insects and fish trying to get that 2nd floor room to get my hoarder storage increased.
All this time I was like - I don't want to play AC, it's boring,, nothing to do - when in reality it's insane micromanaging never-ending addiction of the highest order.
I want my "zen game to play during the pandemic" feelings back. 😁
I think having this be my first AC game gives me a slight advantage over trying to get all 400 to visit, I didn't even know there were that many. I've had 11 so far, the original 10 and 1 new one moving in today. They all seem basically the same to me, either into bugs or exercise.
Teddy the bear muscle head
Katt the cat who has the best in house music
Paddy the cow
Sporky the pig into insects (now moved out)
Curley the conquistador ram
Knox his royal highness
Orolock the mouse who is basically a blue Sporky
Bertha the hippo who is basically a blue Paddy
Hans the abominable snowman gorilla who lives in DK's hut
Fauna the deer who I thought would be my girlfriend but realized she's more of a great aunt
Stitches moved in today, 1 of my 3 amiibo cards
Of course I never could get the online to work so maybe I'm not sucked into this as much. Probably a good thing.
Did have a good Nook Miles island this morning though.
@Roam85 Super rare, people like his design... he's a cat... bragging rights?
That's about it.
@Kimyonaakuma Unfortunately, not all villagers have cards that you can make. Well, just the 5 new ones, I think.
Nice to see that when most normal capitalism is shut down people will make their own. It's like a drug.
There is this whole dark web thing for this chill game. It’s fascinating and disturbing to watch.
@Kalmaro Really? I thought most of the villagers had cards (except the new villagers), but I'm not even sure which villagers returned.
I'm guessing they'll add some more but we'll see, the Splatoon/Zelda/Sanrio villagers could have been a one time deal for New Leaf
@CoOokie
No idea why they don't let you buy multiple tickets in one go. Nope. Instead you have to tread through the same on-screen text over and over...
@Kimyonaakuma You're right, most of them do have cards. 5 villagers were added into this game that don't have one so people are having to resort to desperate measures to get them.
@mesome713 I have no issue with the buying and selling of villagers in game. For those of us who desire certain villagers but don't have the amiibo cards or the money to buy them, paying a few million bells and some Nook Miles is well worth it.
@Tommy9367 Lol, or just play the game.
I'm starting to think the matrix movies stating that human civilisation peaked at the turn of the 21st century, following which everything went downhill had a point.........
I dont really want any of my currant ones. They are all pretty boring to be fair. Do i need to get rid of them and just start going to islands again te recruit new ones. I wouldnt mind a few packs of cards myself.
@mesome713 I am. I'm playing the game my way. And that's what I'm saying people don't understand. It's not about how YOU play the game. It's about how other people play the game. What's fun to some is different than what's fun to others.
Why Raymond? What makes him so stand-out from others? Is it the fact like Dan Aykrody he has Complete heterochromia?
@Hazzerboraco
Yes, because people are using those tickets to keep rolling for the villagers they want.
As long as someone is trying to get a villager on their island, the demand for tickets will remain.
Seeing on the bright side, it proves how much freedom the games offers.
Also, that explains how Nintendo was so hard on the cheating issues.
This is my first ever Animal Crossing game, and I am super pumped to get specific villagers I want. Thanks to quarantine, I'm spending hours out of every day in this make-believe land, and therefore I'd prefer to customize it to my whims. I'm one of the bandwagoners who fell in love with Raymond's cuteness, too, so I'm putting some extra game effort into trying to find him. That said, there sure seem to be some places or people who are taking these desires to the extreme. No way am I spending actual money for something cosmetic, and no way am I grinding a million tickets, for glob's sake.
I'll customize the heck out of my private island, don't you doubt it. But I'm going to do it at my own pace and I'm going to enjoy the journey to that ideal endpoint.
@Kalmaro I'm guessing you've dealt with Anti-Matter before... There's no reasoning with him. Don't encourage this, its not worth it.
@Finntendo Lets face there's alot of people who too stupid to know any better
only got themselves to blame if they waste their money this rather then just playing the game normally
@Maxz I agree totally. But don’t fall victim! It’s not worth it!! Haha
@RupeeClock
I knew about the starting villagers, but the rest was news to me. Thank you for the information.
@CairiB I feel like I'm a bit late to see this, but are you still looking for someone to take her? I'm looking for a cat villager, but the closest I've gotten is a catfish haha.
@sunnisideup currently keeping her around, wasn’t sure she would be for me with her wee grumpy expression but she’s actually very sweet and funny to watch.
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