The Animal Crossing: New Horizons summer update has brought with it a nefarious turnip stealing method that abuses the new swimming mechanic to get around player-instituted boundaries during island visits. The summer update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons has reinvigorated the community thanks to the addition a few series-first features in swimming and diving, while the core game continues to appeal to consumers across the world thanks to its patented mix of charm and satisfying gameplay loops.

While most of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a serene jaunt through an optimistic island survival story, there have been a few bad actors when it comes to online exchanges that have created more cautious approaches from the more invested community members. Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Stalk Market is one of the fastest way to earn Bells in the game, and requires cooperation with other players sharing their Dodo Codes publicly to get the best prices for both purchasing and then selling turnips. Turnip sellers often charge entry fees to access their island when prices are good, a sort of pseudo-finder's fee that is accepted as etiquette to keep people opening islands and the community connected.

Related: What To Expect From Animal Crossing: New Horizon's Next DLC

Unfortunately, the Animal Crossing: New Horizons update has thrown a wrench in the plans of many a turnip trader, as turnip theft - that is, accessing a player's turnip prices and island without paying them - is now possible thanks to swimming, according to a report from Polygon. Previously, many players fenced in the entrance of their island to prevent strangers accessing it from interacting with parts of it, while the gates also served as an easy way to ensure people were paying. Now, villagers can hop off the Animal Crossing: New Horizons pier and then swim around to another entrance of the island that hasn't been gated, which essentially lets them "steal" turnips without paying up to the person who opened their island for access.

Animal Crossing Daisy Turnips

For what it's worth, it is possible to prevent Animal Crossing: New Horizons turnip theft via swimming by fencing off the entire beach. For many players, however, that's a tall ask in terms of time investment and damaging their island aesthetic. The bigger problem is that if the options are between fencing off beaches and simply not opening islands publicly, many will likely choose the latter, damaging the Animal Crossing: New Horizons community and the Stalk Market as a whole.

Most of the players in Animal Crossing: New Horizons aren't the types to sneak onto someone's island, trample their flowers, and steal their turnips. However, there are some people who are willing to do anything for the best prices on turnips, and it's caused a minor problem within the community's otherwise established public visiting procedures as a result. It will be interesting to see how the Animal Crossing: New Horizons swimming turnip theft issue is dealt with, whether Nintendo eventually provides a fix, there are new best practices put in place, or things become more insular. In any of the cases above, it'll be yet another instance of Animal Crossing: New Horizons evolving along with the needs of its players - and hopefully, like so many times in the game's short life cycle thus far, it'll eventually be for the better.

Next: What Animal Crossing New Horizons Needs To Stay Popular

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now on Nintendo Switch.

Source: Polygon