Before I returned to the popular game “Animal Crossing: Wild World” for the first time in my adult life, memories of those afternoons huddled over my Nintendo DS could best be described by Dickens’ most recognizable opening line: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
I always recalled my favorite after-school activity with a mix of optimistic nostalgia and unabated realism. Sure, there were those blissful sunny days collecting pixelated fruit to your heart’s content, cheerful chats with your neighbors, and the endless amusement of bug catching and fishing; but these joys were accompanied by thunderstorms, volatile nests of killer bees, and a steadily growing debt eerily resembling college loans. Much like life, your village was filled with good days and bad days, friends and foes, ups and downs. But, no matter what, it helped you escape from your real life into a virtual one, one where you never seemed to have to eat, drink, or sleep.
Two weeks ago, my boyfriend casually asked if I used to play “Animal Crossing.” He probably didn’t expect me to launch into an in-depth discussion about the different elements of gameplay, describing my childhood escapades with an unexpected gusto. That conversation caused me to, later, dig out my Nintendo DS just to abate my newfound curiosity. Sure, “Animal Crossing” was great when I was in elementary school but was it still just as fun as an adult? Could I still appreciate the little world contained underneath my fingertips? There was only one way to find out.
Tom Nook
I, like many others, spent that first hour of “Animal Crossing: Wild World” under the watchful eye of the village’s aspiring entrepreneur, forced to carry out his bidding to repay his generosity. Even though I shook my metaphorical fist at Tom Nook’s rules, regulations, fines, and fees, now I can see everyone’s favorite anthropomorphic raccoon for who he really is – a good businessman and a great capitalist. My childhood anxiety over Nook’s mortgage payment has faded into a begrudging appreciation for his savvy store smarts, fighting you tooth and nail to drive down your prices and get the most bang for his buck. We’re all just trying to make our way in this world, and Tom Nook has simply found a way to make it better than most. In this village, raccoons are the top of the food chain.
Happy Room Academy
After Tom Nook strong-arms you into joining this seemingly omniscient society, the Happy Room Academy will rate your room on arbitrary guidelines. The larger your home is, the better, and in order to rack in the points, you need to learn the delicate balance of feng shui. Your house is really just a space for you to dump the furniture you’ve accumulated over the years since my current three room abode lacks most of the expected functions. There’s no kitchen or bathroom – just a living room (complete with a grand piano) and two bedrooms. Good thing your only goal in life is to shake fruit trees and haggle with the locals, not, like, start a family or learn to operate a stove.
The Able Sisters
In your eyes, the Able Sisters’ designs were the epitome of fashion. Logging onto “Animal Crossing” for the first time in years meant opening my wardrobe to a plethora of shirts, ranging from beaded blouses to the “moldy shirt” Gracie the giraffe had so generously given me. Even though I had, apparently, lived religiously by the phrase “clothes are a girl’s best friend,” I had failed to notice that the reason the porcupines loved sewing so much was because they already had all the needles they could possibly want.
Villagers
Even though your neighbors could range from the peppiest squirrel to the grumpiest cat, each one cared for you in their own way. They bestowed you with affectionate nicknames, mailed you gifts, and challenged you to see who could find that fish faster. My only question, in hindsight, was why you could waltz into absolutely anyone’s home unannounced. Is theft nonexistent in this tiny town? Lyle and Crazy Redd run a thinly veiled black market ring and insurance scam, so we know this isn’t the case. What about privacy? Even if your villagers aren’t liable to robbery, they should probably crave a little solitude from time to time. Maybe they’re just all extroverts.
Weeds
Speaking of your villagers, why do they seem incapable of maintaining your delicate ecosystem? After my long absence, the town was overrun by weeds, and my town hall was filled with complaints about it. Why? Even though, normally, animals don’t have opposable thumbs, your humanoid villagers seem perfectly capable of carrying out daily tasks like shopping and taking and operating machinery They’re probably capable of doing all the weeding themselves, but share the common human flaws of laziness and hypocrisy.
Fossils
Venturing out with your shovel in hand, you’re more often than not bound to find a plethora of excavation opportunities. A day full of digging always led to a surplus of pitfall seeds, a pile of bones, and a robot or two. Even though most of your hobbies were straightforward – fish with your fishing rod, catch bugs with your net, garden with your watering can – your role as the local paleontologist raised more questions than it answered. How did these digging spots replenish every night when you went to sleep? It always seemed convenient that any kind of fossil you might possibly want is contained within the boundaries of your town. Even stranger are the underground droids who appear just as frequently. Where did they come from? Could these strange bots signify that not all is as meets the eye?
Turnips
Why are these root vegetables traded as currency? How do they contain the planting and growth of turnips, and, therefore, restrain inflation? I’m pretty confident that it originated from someone just really wanting to use the pun “stalk market.”
