April 25th 2020 archive

Apparently the Turnip Exchange is… meh now?

I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned it here before, but sites like the Turnip Exchange have facilitated buying and selling turnips on Animal Crossing for practically as long as the game has been out (New Horizons, anyway). But now there is speculation that use of this could technically violate the game’s Terms of Service because it grants a third-party access to the game (to see how many visitors are on your island), and more and more people are not wanting to risk being banned from the game or playing the game with their friends upon realization of this. The Discord that I participate in (“Animal Crossing for gamers over 25”) has taken this stance, and I mean… I can’t say that I don’t agree with them right now, because Nintendo’s Terms of Service does prohibit allowing third parties to access the game (“rooting” it), and it’s not a risk that I want to take and have them come down on us by banning us from the game. Or Nintendo Switch Online, for that matter. Not until we know for sure whether or not participating in this actually falls under those parameters.

I’m lucky that I have enough friends who play that someone almost always manages to have a high buying rate on their island at least once a week, but this still does suck because I have used the Turnip Exchange website a few times to sell our turnips. We won’t be using it again though until we have solid confirmation.