On why I stopped playing Pocket Camp

So, my birthday was about 2 weeks ago (July 18th) and I once again want to thank everyone who sent happy birthday wishes! They always warm my heart <3 But onto the entry itself, as mentioned above, I will no longer be playing the game. I had wanted to mix this with an entry about my birthday to show the birthday greetings along with some other fun stuff from games, but I felt this would be better on its own, especially as people have been asking about it. I have tried very hard to keep up with it. I think anyone who knows me could tell you that I hate giving up and quitting and will usually choose to just "work harder" over saving my sanity and that should say a lot for it to finally have been the final straw for me. The biggest issue is I had been running into is the game just felt overwhelming. Between the constant fortune cookies and all the events, there was too much to keep up with. And it wasn’t done in a fun way.

I’ve said before that I felt Pocket Camp missed the main core of Animal Crossing and I find that true more than ever. If people could trade and earn things with currency and communication the way they could in the original Animal Crossing, that’s one thing, but you can’t. You’re all on your own. And if you can’t give your every waking moment to the game, you likely won’t finish, and the point of a mobile game is to be that you can pick it up, do a little bit, and stop, but with this game that isn’t possible.

The Gardening Event especially is one of the biggest highlights of how much time you need to spend with the game. Constantly checking your flowers, growing and planting new ones, trying to return for friends, and dealing with RNG to even manage to catch enough bugs to progress. Or you’ll miss things, whether it be items, special cutscenes, or what. And it’s not “okay” if you miss things when a core part of the game is actually collecting things in the first place.

And so, every single time they had special NPC items that were Leaf Tickets only, it was pretty iffy from the get-go, but you could usually earn a lot. They then started having event items that required Leaf Tickets to complete which also was pretty bothersome. Add in things like the Golden Fishing Rod for the fishing events and every single Leaf Ticket item not only felt quite expensive, but greedy as well.

And with the recent changes with the Fishing Tourney, it’s even more apparent. I usually bought the Golden Fishing Rod and just barely managed to get enough to be done and still relax a bit, but now I don’t even know if I could without constantly having to buy it and play nearly constantly.

I ended up not being able to play during the garden even last month due to a big personal loss when I was already struggling playing. And after missing it, I didn’t really want to continue. But, seeing how the events are continuing, that seems like the right choice.

The point of Animal Crossing was for an easygoing game where you could make a town your own and relax while doing fun things you enjoy. It was supposed to be lighthearted and give you a place to feel reassured.

The only thing Pocket Camp has ever given me is feelings of stress and failure. It didn’t even feel like much of an achievement if I did finish something–I just felt relieved.

And it makes me sad because I feel like Pocket Camp DOES have some neat features and some things I’d love to see in a future Animal Crossing game, but the way it works has just worn me down to the point where I’m not even in a rush for a new Animal Crossing game. I just hope when one does come out, they will remember the reason people fell in love with that series in the first place.