The dark(ish) underbelly of Animal Crossing: New Horizons

On the surface, you can hardly find a softer video game than Animal Crossing: New Horizons. There is no violence of any kind. This world is full of cute animals, they are always happy to see you and lend a helping hand. Oops, even music makes you smile.

Historically, players who like "animal hybrid" champions have the same look-helpful and friendly. But as many new players emerged from the competition, and were forced to stay at home during the pandemic, a more seeded world began to surface. Although most players are still entertaining, chasing butterflies or picking up shells, some players' interests have turned to manipulation of the stock market, fraudulent trading and character trading.

Animal Crossing's "straw market" allows players to guess the price of carrots. This is the same as the basic idea in the market: buy low and sell high. In fact, radish is equivalent to new bitcoin in some ways, which is not a new game function. Since its debut, the straw market has been present in every animal crossing game. Cheap Animal Crossing Bells allows you to buy more props for less money.

Just like Wall Street or other types of markets, people are looking for an advantage to increase the bells (the main currency of the game) and show off their financial resources through conspicuous consumption. This has led to the rise of websites and forums, both of which can help you predict when radish prices will reach their peak (for example, radish prophet or ACNH radish calculator), and when they can visit other players ’market prices during peak hours .

Among these types of websites, the most popular is Turnip Exchange. On an afternoon in late April, 20,000 people were waiting on the scene to join one of the 1,600 islands that accepted tourists. People wait an average of 30 to 40 minutes to receive Dodo codes that allow access.

The exchange is very simple. Players visit expensive islands and usually provide a gift as an entrance fee to enter the market. It can be any kind of thing, from a certain number of Animal Crossing Bells to a certain percentage of radishes to items in the game.