Why Animal Crossing Is The Loneliest Game I've Ever Played

The Only Real Feedback System Is Social Media

This is hard to articulate, but I'm always left with a feeling of having to self-motivate in Animal Crossing, versus anything close to real, acknowledged reward.

Where - and I get these aren't perfect comparisons, but bear with me - Minecraft's gameplay becomes its own reward or Stardew Valley has an intricate clockwork of timers governing seasons, produce and cashback, Animal Crossing forces you to "make your own fun", because there is very little else.

I can set myself custom "projects" like make an orchard of fruit, a peaceful Japanese tea room or terraform part of the island into a small city... but why? For who?

"Because I can" works in the short term, but what comes next?

There aren't any A.I. interactions or comments for combining pieces of furniture together, the game can't "recognise" these groupings of items in any capacity, and after a while, you're left like I was with that very first chair: Looking to the invisible camera in the sky, taking a picture for social media, hoping it provides the gratification I need from the time invested.

Now, if this was the intended effect, why isn't there an inbuilt points system centring on photos uploaded to an in-game "NookPhone" server, where we can give Bells or get recommendations from everyone's best snaps?

When the villagers I'm supposed to be bonding with don't reply properly, their conversations don't go anywhere, their memories are limited to "Hey, how about that [thing that happened weeks ago], right?" and interactions with other players are fleeting, what is there other than isolation?