Yes, that brilliantly photoshopped Animal Crossing logo basically sums it up.

Recently, it was rumored that the next Animal Crossing for Wii would be an MMO, meaning that many real people could coexist in a virtual world much like World of Warcraft.

I was very excited upon hearing this. On our forums, there was a discussion on such a game. The issue came up that Nintendo wouldn't allow for something like an MMO because it would be independent of friend codes and thus render young children susceptible to the riff-raff of the internet. Certainly, the game will most likely be WiFi as it would be a step down from Wild World not to include it, but one has to wonder if they would go so far as to allow for an MMO.

First off, it is necessary to decide if an MMO would even help Animal Crossing. Personally, I think it would. I feel that the differences in Wild World versus the original game for the Gamecube were pretty subtle aside from WiFi. I think if Nintendo, who already has dipped their toe into online water, wants to make another game in the Animal Crossing series, it needs to step up the game.

It's obvious from the boxart of Wild World (above) and the original boxart (below) that Nintendo wants a bigger community focus on the game. Without building on the potential community aspect of the game, I fear that the game simply will not improve. In all seriousness, the game needs a larger increment of improvement in order to stay afloat.


An MMO would allow Nintendo to increase their community focus and allow for a large enough change to keep people playing. I think it can be implemented, as FishMusician99 on the forums said, "Maybe there could be a large central hub or something. It would have all of the shops and holiday activities and thats where everyone will interact. Then somehow you can go to your own town. And, of course, to have others in your town they will need your friend code."

This would be great implementation of WiFi for the game. However, Nintendo seems to shy away from allowing direct contact with others. They implement hard-to-rememver friend codes which limit interaction among players. Thus far, the online experience you get out of a Nintendo WFC game doesn't even compare with what you can get out of an Xbox Live enabled game unless we are talking about price.

Nintendo needs to change things in their online space. They need to move towards more community based uses of WiFi, not away. We aren't the only ones who think so. There have even been grumblings within Nintendo. In the recent Nintendo Power, Chris Slate stated that Wii headsets would be a great addition. View Article Here This just shows how people, even within Nintendo, just want more out of their internet enabled games.

So, what can Nintendo do to keep players safe and happy? Using the hub system as FishMusician99 described is nice. It allows for a public space while simultaneously allowing players their own towns which can be accessed only through the use of friend codes.

Since Animal Crossing is a first-party title, it should be no problem for Nintendo to implement some form of parental controls, which would forbid young children from accessing the public hub while still being able to allow friends into their towns. So come on Nintendo! Give us something more! Develop the community element within Animal Crossing to its full potential! We will all thank you.