One of the biggest differences between Animal Crossing: New Horizons (and all other games in the series) is how important communication has become among fellow players in the game community. Players share design ideas, clothing codes, Turnip prices, and now, anyone can visit Nookazon.com to acquire virtually anything they desire, for a price.
What Is Nookazon?
Although the play on words is meant to make players think of Amazon, Nookazon is more like an enormous garage sale or a swap meet. The website features everything that can be traded in game, including clothing, DIY recipes, flowers, fossils, fruits, furniture, materials, posters, songs, tools, and perhaps most importantly of all for many players – villagers.
Buy, Sell, Or Trade
After making an account (just a few clicks away if signing up through Discord) players are free to post their own items and contact other users. An item will be listed with its posting date, seller username, seller rating based on previous transactions, and their Discord contact information if they’ve provided it.
The price can be listed as a specific number of Bells, “Make me an offer,” or items that they would take in exchange.
What is most interesting about the site is that, like those who share island codes to access a high Turnip sell price, there are a mix of players looking to make some profit and some who are happy to help for free. This is observable in posts for most items that aren’t extremely rare. Take the Adventure Dress, for example. Some list their items for sale with a solid price, like 2,000 Bells, others say, “Make an offer,” and some say 1 Bell, which usually means it’s free, or symbolically sold for practically nothing.
How Trading Villagers Works
For some players, getting their favorite villagers is a major end game goal, but doing so at the normal pace of the game can take a considerable amount of time. For those who don’t want to wait, trading villagers lets players skip ahead. However, trading villagers is unlike most other items.
Once a trade has been agreed to, the player who has the villager on their island will need force them to move out normally. One way that this is done is by ignoring the villager completely: don’t speak to them, read their mail, and basically pretend as though they don’t exist. Eventually they will begin to show a thought bubble above their head.
At this point a player can speak with the villager to find out that they are thinking of moving away. This is the crucial period of time where the interested buyer should visit the seller’s island and chat up the villager. The conversation will result in the villager coming to the new island and that’s it – the trade is done!
Is It Cheating To Use Nookazon?
Some might look at Nookazon and think that its core function corrupts the main gameplay of Animal Crossing in the same way that Time Travel does. This is all a matter of opinion, but there is something to be said about getting everything instantly. Ultimately, it comes down to playstyle.
Some players will prefer to play the game as intended, gaining their own items and befriending villagers as they arrive, while others will want to acquire specific items in as short a time as possible. In the end, there is no wrong way to play, and everyone can go at their own pace.
A Great Idea, But Tom Nook ‘Aint No Jeff Bezos
This is a minor bone to pick with the website name, since Nookazon is clearly meant to be an Amazon reference. Let’s be clear here, Tom Nook ‘aint no Jeff Bezos. One is the richest man in the world who underpays employees in warehouses where there is no time to go to the bathroom, pays little to no taxes, and fires any worker who even thinks about unionizing; The other is a supportive tanuki that provides players with as many interest-free loans as they like, so they can create their very own island paradise.
If you think Nook and Bezos are equals, you’re wrong. This is a hard line we draw in the sand.