The time I got my first framed photo
In Animal Crossing New Horizons, my favorite video game, framed photos are one of the hardest things to get. It could take months as my first one did. Or you could get extremely lucky and get two in one day like I also did. It’s all luck, and I didn’t have much with my first.
In the game, you have animal villagers on your tropical, private island. They speak your language, have different personalities, different appearances, etc. Personality-wise, the first villagers you find on your own are, normal (female), peppy (female), and lazy (male). You can move in and move out villagers of your choice, and the only one I’ve kept out of those three is the peppy one, Sprinkle. Sprinkle is a cheerful peppy penguin that always makes me happy. Around the time the class was being passed around like hot potatoes to teachers, she made me happy and relaxed, and she still does. As you can see, she means a lot to me.
Now that I’ve explained that, I’ll explain framed photos with a bit more detail. The more gifts you give your villagers and the more you talk to them, the higher your friendship is. (note: are we buying their friendships with gifts?) When you reach level five, you get a small, small chance to get their photo. After a MONTH of chatting and buying their friendship, is when you get the tiniest of tiny chances. Maybe even a month more of questionable friendships, you get the high and highest chance of getting their photo which is….7 to 8 percent!!...wait that’s not high. So yeah, you’re never even guaranteed to get it. It’s a luck-based mechanic. Most people spend weeks, even months, trying to get these frames you can get at Walmart, and most don’t. But somehow, I did and I do.
That took a while, so let me get back to the story. So, around the first two or three months, I was giving her gifts because I thought she was cute, and not because I knew I could get a photo of her. Fast forward a bit, and we get to spring break. All I can think of is a framed photo of a fat AI penguin. I’m getting dressed and I get a text from a friend who plays ACNH as well, saying...
(oh my gosh it pains me to type this)
“What happens when a villager gives you their photo?”
“Does it mean you are at a good friendship?”
“Who gave you their photo”
“Snake” (another villager)
“?”
I had an excuse to not respond. She knew what it meant, and she knew I had wanted one, bad, for weeks. She gave this rabbit named snake (it is confusing, I know) some random item in return for one of the rarest mechanics in the game. Instead of being happy, I was mad, upset, and at most jealous. It sounds stupid to get this angry over a video game where the meanest thing you can do is hit a villager with a net, but as I said earlier, the framed photo mechanic means a lot to me. I had spent hours at this point trying to get this (sprinkles photo), and she got it without even fully remembering what it meant. Fast forward THREE days (March 19th), we were on the same couch on our switches and phones. (keep in mind this is still spring break) I was giving up at this point, and I was tired of trying to get sprinkle’s photo, but something happens. Instead of the usual balloon hat, she says, “Here! Take Sprinkles Photo!”
This is insane. Something that I almost gave up on finally happened. I find it hilarious that my friend got her first one three days before mine. What I learned from this is: You get lucky when you get angry. You should never give up, and the less you know about stuff, the better you are at it.
Also, I have seven photos now, so take that, Kara. 🙃