My Animal Crossing Island is my Happy Place
To me, Animal Crossing is more than just a game
I thought my video game days werebehind me. The last console I remember really enjoying was the Nintendo Wii. My parents got me Wii Sports for my brothers and I, and we spent hours getting hooked on digital bowling and tennis. We laughed hysterically over who could design the ugliest looking Mii character.
Those were the good old days.
When I left my parents house and went to college, I slowly lost interest in video games. My brothers were pretty into xBox but I wasn’t interested in the shooting games. I didn’t want to go to war. So instead I focused on my passion for books and spent hour upon hour reading romance novels on my kindle.
Flash forward to 2020. I was spending more time on Youtube and began watching gameplay of Animal Crossings: New Horizons. The most recent handheld console I had owned was the Game Boy Advance and I mainly used it to play Pokemon games. So needless to say, none of the previous iterations of Animal Crossing had ever crossed my radar.
I was immediately fascinated by New Horizons. I didn’t know anything about the Nintendo Switch and I figured that it would be too technical for me to learn, now that I’m older. But then the Nintendo Switch Lite came out and I had different ideas.
That looks like a bigger Gameboy, I thought. I can do that.
So I did it. In Spring of 2021 I bought my first video game in many years. It was interesting to dive back into the gaming world after being gone for so long. I started out playing Let’s Go Pikachu (Old habits die hard) and then moved on to the illustrious Animal Crossing. My brother and his girlfriend were playing it and told me how much fun they were having.
And now it’s 2022! I’ve been working on my island slowly but surely for the past year and I’m loving the game. It’s the perfect activity for after work when I just need to relax and unwind.
I remember when I was a kid, my Dad wasn’t really a fan of us playing video games all the time. I think he thought it would make us lazy and unmotivated. And while that was sometimes the case, I have much less time to focus on my games now which makes it more of a treat to sit down and play.
My Animal Crossing island is my happy place.
It’s Relaxing
Sometimes after a long day of work, I just want to sit down on the couch. It’s too early for bed, but I’m too tired to get invested in a 2 hour movie or one of my many unread books on my bookshelf. It’s the perfect time to pull out my Switch and play Animal Crossing for a little bit.
You can go completely at your own pace, which is part of what makes it so relaxing.
It’s a Fun Escape
New Horizons first came out when the pandemic hit, which I think is part of why everyone started playing the game. We were all trapped inside and looking for something to do, why NOT play a game where you get to travel to a new world and build up the town?
My brother told me that when they were quarantining (since they live in a pretty big city) he and his girlfriend would go on Animal Crossing dates and their characters would visit each other in game.
Weird, but also pretty adorable.
It Sucks You In
Back when I first started playing the game, I showed it to my Mom while I was visiting my parents house. She’s never been much of a gamer either but she was fascinated by the game, as I took her on a tour of my little island. I showed her my house and Tom Nook and whatever villagers had been on my island on the time.
My Mom is recently retired and I think I ALMOST convinced her to buy a Switch and start playing.
She hasn’t done it yet, but I have a feeling that someday I just might convince her.
Have you picked up any interesting hobbies during the pandemic? It’s been an interesting time and I’ve been having a lot of fun exploring games for the Nintendo Switch.
You can’t focus on work all the time and it’s nice to have a hobby that lets you just chill.
