Nintendo Is Deleting Hacked Dream Island Uploads In Animal Crossing: New Horizons

@JHDK
Who cares if i played by Time Travel ?
I played ACNH with Time Efficiency, not by following exactly 24 hours 7 days to get one achievement. The game shouldn't controlling me, i should take control the game.

I played with Time Travel all the time and what's problem with that ?

Btw, if the Dream island banned, could they still able to play ACNH normally ?

@Anti-Matter Yeah, but that's cheating, isn't it?

@PoopScoop
I saw from Youtube, even Youtuber AbdallahSmash026 got banned due to his island have Star Fragment trees, the hacked trees.

good, what's the problem with this? oh you cheated and now you get punished? grow up

@Octane
I don't understand, cheating what ? 🤨
If about getting result quicker, i don't even consider that was cheating.
I just speed up the process that should be done without waiting for exactly in days count to get one achievement.
I don't even want to wait until exactly 30 days for Nook Cranny got upgraded.
I felt like i have been fooled by the game to waste 30 days that could be done in 30 minutes.

Maybe i am the minority here but i saw a lot of ACNH player considered Time Travel as cheating.
I never consider Time Travel as cheating.
I have different thoughts.
Hacking the island with not supposed to be things or hacking by force the amount of my money are cheating.

Why did i always Time Travel?
Because i used to play Harvest Moon / Story of Seasons so after 1 day has finished, i proceed to next day by sleeping.
I brought the Harvest Moon gameplay style into Animal Crossing games to play with Time Efficiency.
By time travelling, i could get my dreamy villagers with Campsite tricks, built some inclines or bridges quickly, paid off debts, regrow the fruits without waiting exactly 3 days from what the game ask me to do.

And what if i have done beautified my island?
My job is not over yet just because i got everything i want so far.
I can still try to hunt other colors object, getting the previous event items, capturing some random moments, visiting other player's island and many more.

No surprise here. Nintendo raves that they are they are the ambassador of fun, however it's their way of "fun" (which isn't much) and if anybody uses their assets to actually make something fun (of which they don't make a profit off of by the way) and exciting they shoot everything down left right and center.

You sign the CoC, you break the CoC, you get punished. It's that simple.

From Nintendo’s perspective if other users see content that isn’t achievable playing the game without hacking it, it may cause confusion. Players may question if they have missed out on secrets of the game. I briefly did when I saw the stars on trees.

Also, considering they won’t let devs tinker with MARIO characters does it sound like a company that wants modifications made to their games and shared through their own online service????

I don't mind time travelers because they are using a feature thats available to everynyan, but hacking your console and using hacks, that's a big nono no matter what.

@Anti-Matter Just because you decide that it's not cheating doesn't mean it isn't. The game was designed for players to take their time and you're going against that...so that's technically cheating. You make it sound like you're running a business for maximum efficiency instead of living on an island 😂

I think there is some nuance missing from the conversation around the term cheating. IMO what is happening in the ACNH community is not the same by any means as someone cheating on the competitive multiplayer scene of smash ultimate.

Nintendo is also a little heavy handed penalising people who explore exploits in AC. I saw a video on how to get trees growing on a cliff edge which required following specific steps in game is this a violation? Who can say they read the T&Cs from front to back.

Well this policing will seriously alienate many creative people playing this game. I’m far too casual a player to want to develop my island that way,, but does hacking by others really pose a risk of corrupting the stability of the game as a whole?? If so, I can sympathize with Nintendo, but if not, c’mon, just let people play.

@Kimyonaakuma
I worked hard to build my island.
I did time travel since that was the feature legally given by Nintendo.
So i can take control with the island destiny and the villager's fate.

I don't need to wait at 7 pm on every Sunday during August just for buying Firework festival stuffs.
I am not a fool to follow the slow pace gaming like that.
I will enjoy my island and having relax after i have shaped my island, i will not forget that.

@Teksetter asset hacking and ruining online playability have been hand in hand with Animal Crossing since Wild World. It’s clearly not as bad as back then (In Wild World hackers could just make your station inaccessible and ruin your save completely and they visit you online), but hacking your game and going online with it is still against the TOS by any means.

@Anti-Matter When someone cheats, they do not obey a set of rules which they should be obeying, for example in a game or exam. That's one definition of it, and it perfectly applies to what you are doing. Stop making excuses.

@Anti-Matter You literally cheat the flow of time in the game. I honestly don't mind if you do it, but not calling it cheating is lying to yourself. Nintendo also did a lot to prevent time-travelling, like how turnips spoil, the seasonal event being update locked and how they lowered the interest rate of the bank. Also the auto-save feature is basically how they try to tackle resetting now without using mr. Resetti.
Btw I got nothing against cheating, I actually like it when games include cheatcodes and such. They haven't been included as much as they used to and that is a shame.

@Bl4ckb100d
This is a game, not an exam.
Using Time Travel that legally given by Nintendo is something right to me.
But, hacking the island or changing the amount of money by force are big no no for me because those are cheating.
I worked hard to get tons of money from planting the non native fruits / selling the fossils, not by using item duplicate glitch nor even hacking the system.
I have to harvest all of them, taking more than 1 hour to finish my job on 1 day. And when everuthing has done, i proceed to the next day just like i played Harvest Moon.
I will not wait for exactly 1 day by 24 hours to see my progress. The real time was a gimmick to fool players to follow the gameplay style of Animal Crossing. I am not a fool like that.
Do i have to play at certain time when at the same time i am busy or working, cannot play Animal Crossing on that time ?
For me it was like baiting players to play on the wrong time or they will miss the events.
I have a lot of reasons and thought to consider playing with Time Travel.

Gotta love gaming puritans and people taking this Extreme Island Decor Simulator game seriously.

"You can't cheat or mod a game you purchased! That isn't the Nintendo way!"

Seriously dudes, does it really disrupt your lives if someone is time traveling or modding? 😂

I'm so sorry @Anti-Matter for these people that are attacking you, they can't understand that there are many possibilities on how to play Animal Crossing. It's pretty sad.......

@MajorTom
"Nintendo also did a lot to prevent time-travelling, like how turnips spoil, the seasonal event being update locked and how they lowered the interest rate of the bank."

And that's why i have anticipated those consequences.
When i already knew those consequences, i will never bought any Turnips since i knew it will rotten my Turnips so i used strategy by selling non native fruits + Time travel to get a lot of money. Beside, i'm not interested by playing stock exchange in Animal Crossing.

About locked seasonal events on ACNH, when i still busy with my island development , i didn't really mind if i will miss the events since i could go back on specific months to experience with those events after they have surpassed the actual last date. I missed Easter events and Wedding events as i bought the game on 27 June 2020, so i could experience with those events by Time Travel after their events have been finished by actual date.
I played ACNH with strategies, not by being clueless.

And about Auto Saving, since the Auto Save icon will suddenly appears without my acknowledge, i have to think carefully about my actions.
I will not delivering the presents to specific villagers as i knew the villagers will use the random things from the present and it will ruin their appears and their belongings.
I have to keep my eyes peeled on Top Right screen when doing negotiation with the camper with 10 villagers already in my island.
I have to make sure the camper pick the unwanted villager to move out before the Auto Save icon suddenly appear.
I have to outsmart the game.

@Anti-Matter animal crossing Has always been about playing in small doses for a long period of time, not the other way around.
It doesn’t go by fast because most players would Experience all content, and get bored of it. This is why it’s meant to be played slowly.

Just because time traveling is available and not against TOS doesn’t mean it still isn’t cheating. Those are two different things. Youre a cheater, and that’s fine. Just call it what it is though.

ya, ima agree. time travel is cheating lol.

@whatyoulookingat
It's okay. 😀
Maybe because i am the minority here.

I have always felt that if they somehow patched and eliminated Time Traveling that Twitch streamers would have 50% drop off of ACNH streamers. I do like the dream feature as personally for me, sitting and watching someone stream ACNH as they build their island is rather boring...not like fast paced action happening here.

Cheaters don't like getting caught. They know they cheat when they have star fragments hanging in the trees. Being penalized for it should not be surprising. You're playing a Nintendo game and your sharing your cheated island over their internet service. If you don't like being penalized then either stop cheating or stop sharing your cheats. It's not like you can't see it coming... ✌️

if people have hacked items they have broken the code of conduct and therefore it’s to be expected . is having the hacked tree hurting anyone? no but it still breaks the rules you’ve agreed to so suck it up and either stop doing it or loss get banned .. i don’t time travel but i don’t object to it - that isn’t cheating IMO and ninty are trying to curb that by drip releasing things .... which i kinda prefer - avoids spoilers which is my main issue with TT but i can easily avoid them i guess

@Strictlystyles
"It doesn’t go by fast because most players would tire and get bored of it. This is why it’s meant to be played slowly."

But not happened to me. 😉
Maybe different peoples, different cases.
I still enjoy to play ACNH for straight 5 weeks and have accumulated more than 250 hours gameplay.

Btw, if i started to get bored after my island has been polished, i can play something else but will play ACNH again once my mood is ready.
Since villagers will not moving out by themself without my acknowledge on ACNH, i can leave the game for long time safely.

Oh, i am not a cheater.
I am a Cheetah (For playing Animal Crossing in fast pace) 😁

@Anti-Matter

Just play how you wanna play dude. Nobody with a sane mind should really care, ignore the puritans with their dictatorship mentality 👍

@Anti-Matter Well, the game does not offer you time travel, you have to change the system time of your Switch to do so, so this is not something the game offers. Even if you personally think this is no cheating.
But are you seriously insulting everyone not doing time travel a fool? Wow...

@vanYth
I wasn't calling peoples with no time travel playing as a fool.
Read my replies above carefully.
I said i felt like a fool if i have to follow what the game asked me by gimmick.
Real time on ACNH was a gimmick for me.
I will not follow that unnecessary gimmick if i could done quickly without waiting for real time to get one accomplishment.
It could ruin my daily time and my activities.
I couldn't play with specific time from Animal Crossing when i clearly busy or not in the right time to play.

Cheat all you want on a single player game, just don’t take those cheats online. In other words: don’t share your time-traveled island for dreams.

I find it bloody hilarious that people are harping on about Anti-Matter about "Time Traveling is cheating". If Nintendo didn't want people too time travel then they should make AC only playable when you are connected too the internet.

@Anti-Matter well, let me cite you:
„I am not a fool to follow the slow pace gaming like that.“ #17
„The real time was a gimmick to fool players to follow the gameplay style of Animal Crossing. I am not a fool like that.“ #21

So: Yes you did. Twice.

What doesn't make sense to me is that we pay for their online service that is a glorified cloud save for most of us that don't play the online classic games. And why can't I have cloud save on Splatoon, Animal Crossing or Mario Kart (and more)? The hackers already have control of the Switch file system so you aren't stopping them from anything, just hurting regular Switch owners who want a backup their games in case of emergencies?! Or what about owners who have a "home" switch and an "away" lite switch? Why can't they seemlessly switch between their switch's without a huge save game conflict? Why must Nintendo be so anal and so unequivocally stupid at the same time?! I would understand if their hardware was completely locked down and they didn't want to open the door to hackers but that ship has sailed. And you are in first place heading into another console generation yet you have announced NO new games or hardware for the rest of the 2020? Why haven't you enticed Activision and Rockstar to bring GTA or CoD to the Switch?

ah yes cheating in animal crossing, i sure hate how it ruins the meta for everyone elses towns. really tho were hacked towns even an issue in NL? i thought the whole point of dream towns were doing whatever you want in them without consequence. its not like entering a hacked town somehow benefited the game play more than entering a normal one

@JHDK No. They shouldn't. To suggest so is utterly ridiculous

@Anti-Matter and Nintendo say time travel in Animal Crossing is against the user agreement, which is something everyone agreed to when they purchased the game. So anything that goes against the user agreement is deemed as cheating, which has consequences. Simple as that pal.
But you do you, just don’t go getting upset if you get punished for it.

@vanYth Well, the game does allow you to time travel. If people really have an issue with the method of play, then take it up with Nintendo for not including a safeguard to prevent it. It's not like it's something new to the series and they don't know it happens at this point

@Anti-Matter If I went forward in time and found out lottery numbers and then went back and won the lottery would that be considered cheating?

@locky-mavo And yet, it's something not patched out or prevented from doing. That's like leaving a plate of cookies uncovered on the kitchen table and then telling a kid not to grab one. Sure, they probably should listen to your instructions. At the same time, you probably shouldn't leave a plate of cookies, uncovered, where a kid would be tempted and then be surprised and upset if they do take one.

@locky-mavo @Enigk
Peoples, chills...
I play ACNH with Harvest Moon style so time travel is my gameplay style.
Even by time travelling i still wasted 20 hours accumulated to get Raymond from Campsite.
I still have to work hard to build my island even by time travel.

@UmbreonsPapa
1. I myself traveled in time backwards on the Wii version to get things I otherwise would have missed. But I know this was cheating.
2. the game tries to prevent time travel (rotten turnips, etc), it does not offer it!

Everyone should know by him/herself, if he/she uses time travel. It just makes rare and special items very generic unfortunately. Seeing islands full of original statues is just boring.
This was not my point. My point was calling other people fools by playing the game the way intended.

@Jakiboy for a company whose way of fun "isn't much", they make a rather impressive amount of money from it. For those who beg to differ, what would be less trouble anyway - to "make something fun" in the way they consciously signed a EULA to abstain from, at the risk of the other party taking countermeasures? Or just go seek the required amount of fun somewhere else in the age where entertainment options are anything but scarce? Nintendo isn't the first or the last business with a naturally expectable "our way or the highway" approach, and it's just one of the numerous aspects that consumers like to bash but would INVARIABLY replicate if they found themselves running a similar business themselves.

"It's a free country, innit?"
"Well, it ain't a free shop, is it? So ---- off!"(c)

@Fifth313ment the answer to all of these questions is frankly obvious - they currently don't feel the need or motivation to do any of these things. But it's not an answer any fandom could ever deal with.

@SCAssassin
I certainly see your point and Nintendo should by all means guard against any malicious hacks or exploits that threaten other players’ experiences or the integrity of their games’ ecosystems. It’s important to protect their IP, for sure, and a lot of people (parents like me, at least) appreciate Nintendo’s curated, stable games.

That said, I still wish they could be smarter about how they handle the creative crowd playing ACNH. If you don’t want islands with hacked assets in the public eye, maybe have Luna find a way to block their upload up front, rather than sending ban warnings to players after the fact.

Either way, I’m sure there will still be plenty of impressive islands left to tour, built from stock parts strictly within the rules. It will just be a little more sterile experience. We’ve got bigger problems in life 😓

@Anti-Matter I think if you want to say you aren't cheating you need to find another word for what you are doing. Not "cheetah" that you made up, I do like it, but an agreed upon word in gaming for people who play a certain way. Like "speedrunning". So maybe tell people you aren't "cheating" you are speedrunning ACNH. 😉 But just be aware there are haters out there no matter what you do they will tell you you're wrong. 😝

I get ridiculed all the time for playing games on "easy" mode b/c I'm told games are meant to be played on "normal" mode and "easy" mode is cheating. People tell me to "git gud" or don't play the game.

Oh, 1 other thing. To me cheating means "gaining something for yourself that others don't have". So as long as you aren't stealing from others or "cheating" others, I don't see how you're cheating. Somebody has to lose for you to win illegally. I don't see anyone losing if you time travel. You paid $60 for the game, all the updates so far are free.

Sounds like speedrunning to me. And I hear people love speedrunners. I don't know why, don't see the point, but they do.

what i dont like about NL comments in regards to hacking is that they think of it as some negative blanket term, they somehow hold hacking online games to get through ranks or leaderboards to the same gravity as hacking a 3ds home page to have a diff background

people just hear the word cheating and assume the worst. but in the case of AC, why does it matter? WHO are you cheating? WHAT exactly do you win in AC by cheating that makes someone lose? i dont even hack but i think purists pat themselves on the back too much on this

@Anti-Matter Cheating is cheating. You've provided some valid points, but... if you was touting your island on Dream's as most competitive/proud users would - I'd be pretty unimpressed finding out that the island created outside of orthodox methods

@spirit_flame
I compete with who?
I compete with nobody.

But i will accept the challenge to break Grandma Audrey's gameplay hours record.
She has beaten my ACNL gameplay hours with her 3,500+ hours while mine was 1,500+ hours.

@spirit_flame i think people being upset at hacked towns just have insecurities. i doubt these people actually care about the CoC, i didnt hear them get upset at luigi being hacked in botw. beside saying "nintendo says its wrong!" ive only heard people argue that theyre just jealous or upset that their towns cant look as nice

@rjejr
„To me cheating means "gaining something for yourself that others don't have". So as long as you aren't stealing from others or "cheating" others, I don't see how you're cheating.“ #50

Stealing CAN also be cheating, but it is stealing.
Cheating is to subvert rules. And this is not necessarily giving yourself an advantage over others. Even in the 80s where nearly every game was single player, we called it a cheat to give you more lives, manipulate save games, deactivate a timer or similar things.
If the rule is to play in real time, then jumping in time is a cheat. But this is not necessarily a bad thing.
Cheating in competitive multiplayer games of course is really bad. The names I have for people doing this would get me banned here

But playing a game in an „easy mode“ the game offers by itself of course shouldn‘t be called cheating.

Wait, people who hacked their game did online stuff with the game? What a bunch of morons.

@Anti-Matter I can see that you are vigorously "closed minded" arguing your perspective is pointless. Others far better have illustrated the ethics of cheating and cheated materials being showcased. I'm going to retire from this thread with my own opinions cheating and cheaters. You reap what you sow.

@Jakiboy If Nintendo is not fun for you then maybe you should just get a PlayStation and not worry about Nintendo news and games huh? Seems weird to invest time and money into something you don't enjoy.

@Anti-Matter
I completely agree with what you're saying, time travel isn't cheating. I say this because, if Nintendo considered it to be cheating, they would have blocked it. In Tomodachi Life, if you changed the system's clock you would get a message warning you against changing the date and the in-game day would not progress until you waited for 24 hours to pass irl. If time travel was cheating, surely Nintendo would have done this for Animal Crossing as well?

Personally, I don't see why people seem to care so much about how others play the game. How does someone time traveling affect your experience? I can understand being annoyed about time travelers, say, skipping to holidays and spoiling them, but that isn't really an issue with this game. I think I agree with what rjejr was saying that, if anything, time traveling should be considered "speed running". Time travelers are still putting the same amount of time and effort into the game as other players, they're just doing it in a more condensed space of time.

Been reporting time skippers and horror towns since the dream update. It's exactly what this game needed to rid of cheats. Seen some taken down so getting results.
Nintendo tried to stop time skippers but now gives the option for the public to fight back.
Bring the hate, I don't care and won't reply.

@vanYth Well, I certainly agree that we don't need to be doing any name calling. That's not necessary, regardless of what your opinions are on the matter.

Again, if Nintendo was really all that concerned about time traveling or if it were really that egregious, I imagine it wouldn't be that hard to have implemented a mechanism in the game to prevent it.

Personally, I don't and have never time traveled in an Animal Crossing game (at least not purposely or for any gain ). But that's just cause I have no desire to do so. But I have no problem if others choose to do so as it has no effect on my enjoyment of the game or my progress.

I don't really have a horse in this race, but I'm going to give my input anyway.

Firstly, a user above considered people that disagree with another person's opinion part of a dictatorship mentality. Grow up. It's such a thing called a debate, we are encouraged to disagree on topics as that creates dialogue.

Secondly, is time travelling in the game cheating? The game has been designed around the real-world calender, and expects you to play the game in real-time, so breaking that and playing future or past days is breaking the rule set of the game, however minor you consider it to be.

You can argue that people don't have the time to play it each day or on certain days, and that's perfectly reasonable. However, the rule set is what it is, and if you break it you are effectively cheating the system. You are unlocking things quicker than playing the game as intended, and many will argue that means you're giving yourself an advantage, though it's not affecting anyone else.

If you circumvent the systems in a game, no matter how miniscule you believe them to be, you are cheating. Nobody is going to drag you over the coals for it, only ask that you accept it for what it is. I have time travelled in older Animal Crossing titles, and knew I was cheating the system. I didn't try and justify it by saying that because I do something in one game series, I'm entitled to do it in another.

Please forgive my ramblings. I'm sick today and extremely tired. 😂

It is what it is!

@Anti-Matter its cheating that's the problem.the game wasnt made to be played that way.thats the problem with that

I'm glad cheaters get the boot

it seems this comment section is filled with grade schoolers. my eyes cant roll back far enough

@Darkyoshi98
But, i didn't play Animal Crossing with time gimmick.
I played with Time Travel because i take control the time and on what time i can play.

The game will not take control my daily time by time gimmick, instead i take control the game by doing Time Travel , i decided what day and what time i continue my progress on ACNH and i have to make sure my island is safe when i leave from the game for long time.

Do i have to play Animal Crossing in wrong time while i was working or busy that i could miss the events if i don't play on that certain time?

BTW, i'm tired to see peoples keep judging my gameplay style on ACNH.
This is my gameplay style and none of people business for asking me to play ACNH with normal pace without Time Travel.
I can play ACNH with actual date and time if i want to, depend on the situations.

@Anti-Matter The instant someone uploads their island to the servers for everyone to interact with, it becomes everyone's business how that person plays. That goes for you, me, anyone.

I time traveled too, it's just my style of playing the game and I don't care that it's cheating since I played alone almost the entire time.

@Kalmaro
I need to know this.
Is it safe to upload my island on Dream island when i clearly did Time Travel ?

A person should be able to do as they please with their islands. It seems a lil too controlling for them to do that. Don't be made cause you didn't think of the star fragment trees first. Be glad that ppl are finding creative ways to make their island unique.

@JHDK the hells should i waist my life and brainstorming for 16 real life days to do a big island project. Not everyone has time to no life a kids game plus its a NON COMPETITIVE GAAAME. Why should you care if i tt or not? What you competing for? why you whiny for cause i want to rearrange my island with out the long ass wait time?

Ffs this function was meant to be fun for inspiration but now if you upload your island in. A season, dont update while in another season, bitchy anti tt will report you for possible tt 🙄🙄🙄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSA_DDqXMaE
It is because of this guy "Verlisify" and his goon going around reporting island. And Nintendo only take their dream off, not banned. Once the Star tree is remove they can go back in and upload their dream.

@Anti-Matter look at this commenatbove mine. It looks like it's just removed. You should be fine.

@Fifth313ment cloud save was added to animal crossing with the last update

I'm glad the hackers are getting the boot, they should also be banned from the online in general. I couldn't care less about time spammers since it's technically not hacking, just impatience.

If it is uploaded as content to Nintendo Network, then it is treated as their property. Uploading naked pictures of yourself on Facebook has a similar effect.

Eh, shouldn't have uploaded it to Nintendo's servers. I don't have a problem with modding/hacking whatever, that's other people's business, but these people did violate CoC and the user agreement. Can't really argue against that.

@Anti-Matter Nah, you're not in the minority, I TT'd too If I hadn't, it would take me years to get my island looking just how I wanted it.

I created a hecking account bc I got so tired of seeing this dude "Anti Matter" ranting about how he is a time master. Dude we don't CARE, play how you want and when you want. I give a f*ck of how you play as long as you don't go selling items with outrageous prices or pretending your island isn't product of time travel.
Yeah, this game was intended to be played day by day by small amounts of time, so it can last long. But as you said, you're not tied to it.
I have been playing day by day, and that's my joy of the game, being excited by who is visiting my island that day, how turnips prices are going and just having a good time with friends, play events, etc, and it's ok.
If your joy is to finish the game in one day, it's ok. Just stop this rant. You don't care about what people think about you, we don't care about how you play.

@AtomicLena,

I think with the amount of comments saying time travelling is cheating shows people care way too much, if somebody wants to time travel it's up to them, if not it's up to them as well.

This thread needs an MJ eating popcorn gif

@johnvboy The point is that time travelling is cheating, not that we care if he cheats. It is that some people keep denying to call something for what it is. I read a fair amount of the comments and none of them seem to be rude, they mostly just give the definition of time travelling being cheating.
I honestly don't mind people time travelling, I myself also did it in previous Animal Crossing's. Still, I can accept that what I did was cheating the system that the game works on and I won't deny that fact.
On topic:
It certainly makes sense for Nintendo to delete dreams from modded islands like those that include star trees. These islands have altered data which maybe could give problems when it is uploaded into the servers.

I don't time travel or hack. However, it doesn't matter to me if someone does either one (or both). Play the game how you want, it's really not that serious.

Also, I would expect Nintendo to crack down on people openly breaking the rules. That doesn't make it right, but it's expected.

@Anti-Matter to answer your question “Btw, if the Dream island banned, could they still able to play ACNH normally ?”

If your dream island is deleted, you appear to get a warning unless you’ve already gotten warnings for something. Multiple infractions results in being banned from online play, meaning you can still play the game offline but you can’t do anything online, such as visit dreams, play with other players, or share patterns. If you don’t mind being restricted to offline play, it probably won’t affect you.

If you don't play by the rules of the game then it's called cheating, it's that simple.

Ok, but can one "cheating"?. yes, "you can", as it is a "game" for pure entertainment, at one point, you can cheatng, and yes, it is cheating, even if they say no, ""because you don't play by the game rules"", but you can do it and there is no problem .
BUT, """BUT""", as it is a game that connects with other players and therefore, for ethics, for following the rules, especially the rules that come in a game, they must be respected so that everyone, EVERYONE plays without having an advantage or disadvantage " unfair ", who is a good player and respects the rules, will have the advantage, but fair.
So, if you connect online, cheating is cheating and therefore, you must be RESPONSIBLE and accept the consequences for doing what is not marked in the rules of the game, so if in this game, use hacked islands and use the time -traveling is not allowed by the rules (all official rules), it is cheating and you must accept it.

Meh. I'm not too bothered about this.
Nintendo has been iffy and protective of their online features/IP for a while now and it's not unusual for those who try to hack and go online to get punished. Sucks for them though.
Anyways, I heard that you need an ID to see dreams and you can't search for Random Dreams or try to pick a theme or name like in New Leaf? If so, isn't that a bigger issue?

@MajorTom,

It's manipulation for sure, as for cheating I don't know who you would be cheating, as usually this implies doing something to gain an unfair advantage over someone else in a game or other activity, and in this regard the piece of software is not a game in the traditional sense.

@Princessmadllama why would you report horror towns there is NO REASON TO DO THAT!!!

@johnvboy Since when does cheating have to be at the expense of someone else? You can also cheat the system of a game or cheat the flow of time (which time travelling literally is). I see it as using a cheatcode in a game like GTA to get a lower crime-rate or free weapons for example.

@MajorTom,

But it does not give any advantage other than time itself, for instance if somebody was to build a bridge or incline for instance, then skip ahead to the next day to see it completed, you will have the same end result only quicker, a cheat would imply a different or unfair outcome.

@johnvboy So getting something faster than other players is not a different or unfair outcome to you? Many mobile games even have their whole monetization system build on speeding up the time of certain processes.

I understand why Nintendo takes them down, I don't understand why anyone would report someone else.

If you cheat online, you should be banned. If you cheat offline, have fun, do whatever you want. It's simple.

@MajorTom,

It would only be unfair if the option was not open to every other player, so if somebody hacks the software code to create something or an outcome that is unavailable to other players that is cheating, time travel is not.

@johnvboy There have been games with implemented cheat codes like GTA that I mentioned before or the famous konami code. Are cheat codes not considered cheating now because it is avaible to all the players? This is starting to sound ridiculous....

@Anti-Matter,

Totally agree with you, if you are only wanting certain things to speed up a little there is no issue, an although many on here have moaned about the save and single Island per console issues, none have really called out Nintendo's very overly plodding way of moving houses etc, as in the first instance the placing of a house is very hit and miss, so much so I had to outline plots with fences to make sure it was right, surely a better island editor would make things much easier.

So on my island I had my houses dotted around all over the place, I then decided to have six on one side of the island together and four on the other, and to do it all in real time is just pure insanity, and needlessly expensive in not only bells but time, so I spent 5-6 hours going back and fourth getting it all set up, even then with a few mistakes along the way, with time travelling in certain instances like this Nintendo are making it very difficult for players not to see this as an option, as the systems they employ are so dated it boggles the mind.

@MajorTom,

You are missing my point, direct cheating of hacking by whatever method is wrong, and saying is available to others is moot, as it requires something outside of the original software, and the word itself "Cheat code" suggests cheating.

Time travelling does not, as it's there for manipulation without the need for codes or hacking, it's a simple choice for the player, if one decides not to do it fair enough, but to label everybody else a cheat is wrong, as you do not take any factors into account, other than it's not something I would do personally, or agree with, so it's cheating.

@Zuljaras,

So true, people often overlook the designers of these amazing looking Animal crossing tows put a lot of effort into it, it's easy just to say they managed to get a great looking island by time travel, when in reality that was only a small amount of the process.

@johnvboy You miss my point since my first comment completely. Like I said since the beginning, I got nothing against time travelling. I got something against people trying to deny something for what it is. You can time travel for all you want but trying to go this far to justify that it is not cheating while it literally is gets on my nerves. You are altering the system settings (cheating the system) to travel time (cheating the flow of time). How can you not see this? Cheating is not something I consider bad in a singleplayer game, but it still is what it is. Like I said three times already, cheat codes exist in games to use which is like what you say. Even if it is implemented and you have reasons for using them doesn't mean that you didn't cheat.

@MajorTom,

I would not let things so simple and unimportant get on your nerves fella, I do not agree with you, buy beyond that could not simply care, I did read your initial comment and do realise you are not saying you mind if people cheat, but this implies that they are cheating in the first place, or that you think they are, which seems strange considering you do not care.

As for the natural flow of the game, you must concede that some elements are over prolonged and really need updating in the modern world of gaming, I defend Nintendo to the death on most points, but with the systems employed on this game I can't, I mean why have an awesome immediate terra forming island editor, only then to slow it down by waiting a day to move a house or build a bridge or incline, pure insanity.

@johnvboy I have a feeling you never read what I said... So not calling something for what it is is not important anymore? what is the meaning of a word if changing its meaning isn't important? People try to misuse everything nowadays to spin the world in their favor.

@MajorTom,

Which is exactly what you are doing by comparing hacking and direct cheating to time travelling, you may not agree with my points but to suggest I am not reading yours simply because I do not agree with you is insane.

I never suggested this it not important, but for it to get on your nerves as you suggest is making it way more important than it is in reality, and it's still an opinion at the end of the day to weather or not time travel is cheating or not.

@johnvboy Well you never gave an explanation about how cheating the flow of time is not cheating or how cheat codes are not cheating. Only argument you have is that hacking the game is cheating. Yes hacking obviously is cheating but that doesn't change the fact that cheating the flow of time or using cheat codes in games isn't cheating. You do know cheat codes don't require codes outside the software right? Like I mentioned before the konami code is implemented within many games just like cheat codes to get free weapons or lower the crime-rate in GTA. Most of the time they only require a sequence of button prompts.

@MajorTom,

Let's look at a real world example then, you have your island time set to the internet, and on new years eve you are having a party with your family etc, you get to the countdown and all celebrate, and have a great time, but you also want to experience the new year on the game, so you go back an hour or so, you could label that cheating, but in my opinion you would be wrong to do so.

Also on here we are all core hobby gamers who can invest a lot of time into this game, but not everyone is so lucky, someone who works long hours say and uses the game to unwind, but does not have the time to wait for things to naturally happen, some are looking at this from an everybody us in the same position point of view, when in reality they are not.

By the way our debate is very healthy and certainly a lot better than a lot of back and fourths on here, I do see your points, It's just I think calling people cheats is a little strong for what this is, but that is just my own personal view.

@johnvboy Yes you cheated to change the time, that doesn't mean that it is bad to cheat. Having reasons to cheat doesn't change the meaning of it. I got nothing against cheating as long it isn't used at the expense of someone else which doesn't happen in Animal Crossing. So nothing bad about it. However, that doesn't change the meaning of the word cheating.
Let's give a game example. In GTA 3 (or whatever old GTA that has implemented cheat codes in it) I want to save the game but I can't because I got a 3-star crime rating with cops behind me. I can drive around for 15 minutes to shake them off or use a button combination (the cheat code) so that the cops won't chase me anymore. Does this mean I didn't cheat in the game because I had to go somewhere and had to save the game? Obviously not, I still used a cheat code.
Edit:
And sure let's agree to disagree, I see your point. It is that you mainly see cheating as something bad within the game, while I also see cheating as an option that is given by for example the developers of the game. It was a nice discussion.

@MajorTom,

Great discussion fella, we both agree on cheating on your GTA example is pure cheating.

Time travelling I feel is more of a grey area, and you do have to take personal situations into account, however if Nintendo made the games systems a little more user friendly, then there would be no need to do it.

@Jakiboy This isn't really a very good argument. Obviously the average Nintendo customer must think their stuff is fun or they wouldn't buy it. And arguing it isn't fun because you aren't supposed to hack it is ridiculous. Also, in this particular case.. they're people knowingly hacking their system, then sending that info directly to Nintendo for their approval. It would be ludicrous if they didn't remove the hacked content. By and large, people are hacking to their heart's content. It's like if they were graffiti taggers, then started tagging a police station and all the police did was paint over their work.

"Nintendo is now taking an "aggressive" approach towards players who share islands containing any sign of "cheating" or "hacking" by deleting the dream upload."

To be honest, just removing the hacked content doesn't seem particularly aggressive. They aren't even banning the hackers.

@Darkyoshi98 they didn't add cloud save. They added a backup but it only updates every once in a while and you have to call Nintendo support to restore. Also its limited to a broken or lost device. They said in the last update that they are setting up a way to transfer saves to another device but it won't be ready till fall.

Instead of framing this as 'Nintendo' doing something 'to' people, this is clearly people breaking the TOS, hacking and having their stuff deleted. So tired of these clickbait headlines. You break the rules of an online enabled game and you may get away with it. But if you don't that's on you.

@Cosats it's not cheating, the dev's have said it themselves that time traveling is legit. Do your research before calling others cheaters only bc you want to make yourself feel better lol.

There's no cheating in a game where there is no winning. PERIOD. The bannings are ridiculous and anyone joining in on the reporting is a self righteous mega Karen who couldn't be anymore boring and bitter.

@Enigk you win NOTHING in AC tho. Nothing at all. This is a crap comparison

@Kirby_Girl You win every time you play the game as it is such a joy to play on a daily basis.

@Cosats
Time travelling is NOT cheating as that feature given by Nintendo legally.
But hacking the game by force is clearly cheating.
I played the game with Time Travel all the time and so what ?

I mean, it makes sense for Nintendo to delete them, since the islands can't be replicated by average players. While it's a shame they can't share their islands in a way as robust as dreams, since they're likely elaborate and beautiful, they could still provide a tour through other means. The vitriol and elitism from some individuals in this comments section, however, is pathetic. Let people enjoy the game on their own terms, especially when it has no direct impact on anyone else.

@Enigk Well yah its very self fulfilling but you are definitely not going to "own" your friends or family in it or lose some kind of competition. So yah "I_Guess.jpg"

It's almost as if hacking is in the wrong.... Who would have possibly guessed??

some of you by the book purist's need to take the chill pill, if you want to spend a decade playing one game like this until the next one comes out, thats fine but you need to back off on people who time travel.

@SilentHunter382 Exactly, it's like an allowed "hack," which puts it in the gray area when it comes to cheating.

@Anti-Matter in the game cube version there was a mole who told you not to do it and if you did it again you'd be booted permanently from the game.

@MellyMel710
I'm glad i didn't play the old Animal Crossing games on Gamecube, NDS and Wii.
They were too primitive for me.

I only played New Leaf and New Horizons with better features and better 3D body proportion for human and animals.
I did Time Travel too on New Leaf.
I have to make sure i will get the villagers i want and kicked out the unwanted villagers like they have never been exist on my island.
And i have secured my villagers on New Leaf so all the villagers will not moving out without my acknowledge by finding them and asking them to stay forever, then i saved the game and could have long hiatus after that.
On New Horizons, the villagers will not moving out by themself. They have to ask my permit to move out but unfortunately i always asked them to stay forever for my Top 10 villagers. I have guarantee for not losing my villagers so i could time travel whenever i want.

Those are the games i bought with my money.
I have a rights to do time travel.
I could always minimalized the consequences by time travelling because i played with strategies.

@Kimyonaakuma It's not cheating in the slightest, not sure why people are complaining about it. Some people want to (or have to) spend LESS time playing games, so the idea of grinding forever in some fashion sounds less appealing. I think taking advantage of an exploit is great if it saves you time. Time traveling in Animal Crossing is not at all like running an aim-bot in Counter Strike/insert FPS game here.

I use the quicksave glitch in Skyrim to walk faster all the time. I work fulltime and have a family, I don't have time to trudge from one end of the map to the other, as I limit my game time. Call it cheating if you want, the only people cheating themselves are the ones wasting their entire day in a game. I think if players find ways to circumvent some of the absolutely egregious time-sinks that are included in some games, then more power to them.

@ReaperExTenebris Exactly this, the level of entitlement is giving me a good laugh. Like okay, why are you barging in here, telling people how to play their game, and then shaming them for doing something like Time Traveling?

Games have rules, and for some people, the rules are there to be broken.

It's just all the little kids are afraid of hackers, not knowing that there are white hat, grey hat, and black hat hackers and that they all function differently.

It's even more delicious to see the outrage, because there's zero harm being done. It's really amazing to see.

@SomeBitTripFan I agree with you. Honestly, I think that making something appear more lavish or outlandish by using a hack makes seeing something in a dream make more sense, in that context. I rarely have dreams about ordinary things, so why should anybody be bothered if they see something out of the ordinary in a dream island in Animal Crossing?

Hacked dreams with weird nonsense or things that you can't do in the game actually sound pretty amazing, and sound exactly like what a dream should be. A vision of something desirable that for some, may be out of reach or too fantastical to attain.

@Anti-Matter You don't have to defend yourself for the way you choose to play your games. I use cheats and exploits all the time. It's fun to break the rules! Plus, time is valuable, and I can't afford to blow ten hours of my day on a game, so something that helps to save time is always a god-send. That's why I prefer speed running games. It's more fun for me, plus I get to finish the thing faster. Just blew through Mages Guild in 45 minutes in Skyrim, felt great, got the good rewards and skipped all the bad dialogue, and you better believe I used some exploits to achieve that.

Going against the nature of the game is cheating plan and simple. The grind is part of the game. Speed running is not the same thing but does make use of glitches and such sometimes which is also cheating.

If you want to do it fine but it is what it is.

• • • erased by myself - - -
      I don‘t want to restart the discussion from above...

@lordzand If it is what it is, why do people disagree with you about it? It’s not your way or the highway, friend.

Is trading or buying on nookazon cheating? Or trading with my kids and wife cheating. I’ve read all these comments and only see time travel and Star trees as cheating. I have like 50 white Lily’s maybe 10 are actually grown on my island and my wife gave me about 10. The rest I’ve traded for on nookazon. I also have other stuff from nookazon like the Sphinx. Also me and my wife craft each other stuff all the time.

@Anti-Matter I don't know what you mean with "obviously Time Travelled" but according to the comments they will flag your dream if they feel your island is prettier than theirs. Time Travelling is ridiculously petty, but is each and everyone else's business to play however they like and is up to Nintendo to determine whether or not anything brakes the ToS. Not for butthurt players to conspire against other players they don't like.

@TG16_IS_BAE people have always wanted looser definitions of cheating why they do it.

And not just in video game friend.

@lordzand So? You only live once. Don’t judge people that take a different path than you do. We end up in the same spot.

@TG16_IS_BAE I'm not judging them. I'm fine with cheaters. I used to cheat all the time GTA and other games.

I just don't know why they can't cheat proudly.

@lordzand That makes more sense

The creative director of Animal Crossing has even stated that Time Travel is a viable way to play.