Since the game released in March, a black market of sorts has formed around players selling popular villagers like Raymond, the business cat with heterochromia, for in-game resources like Bells and Nook Miles Tickets, or sometimes even real-world currency. The practice is so prevalent that Nintendo itself has commented on black markets, saying it will crack down on sellers and penalize them.
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PokeNinja gained notoriety through the gaming website Polygon in May after he became so disillusioned with the idea of people extorting other players that he began hacking dream villagers in and giving them away for free. On June 20, the Animal Crossing player launched a Discord server called Villager Haven where multiple hackers and community members are teaming up to provide the same service, scaling up the original initiative.
In another article published today by Polygon, PokeNinja said the two most popular villager requests have been Raymond and another New Horizons’ newcomer: Judy (though on social media he indicates a personal preference for Lucky and Fang). He said that if the project does draw Nintendo’s attention and gets his console banned, he believes in the service of combating sellers on eBay and other websites enough that he would happily break out another Switch and continue.
On Twitter today, PokeNinja said the Villager Haven team has already doubled since launch, and if it continues to escalate they will be able to help “hundreds of players a day.” He said there’s a stigma against being a hacker that makes people not want to talk about, but he wants to “shine the light on the good side of hacking” through this service in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Though the chill life simulation game has dipped in popularity on social media, it still has a huge install base as the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game of all time. In fact, the title has become so popular during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that an in-game talk show now hosts guests like Kevin Smith and Sting.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now on Nintendo Switch.
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Source: Polygon
