Some are using the world of “Animal Crossing” to overcome social-distancing measures: users can hang out with friends on each other’s islands
THE TIMING was fortuitous. As the coronavirus confined individuals to their homes, Nintendo enabled bored self-isolators to explore different terrain in “Animal Crossing: New Horizons”. More than 2m copies of the social-simulation game have been sold since its release on March 20th; it shifted more copies in its first week than the previous seven “Animal Crossing” games.
“Animal Crossing: New Horizons” has no obvious end point, as the user can make continual improvements to the island’s infrastructure; Nintendo also releases regular updates which help to keep the islands interesting. The game rewards frequent play: once planted, flowers and trees will grow slowly but, if left unattended for too long, weeds sprout instead. It is relaxing and at least temporarily diverting, says Adrienne Shaw of the media-studies department at Temple University in Philadelphia.
How exactly gamers choose to play with life depends on how much of the real world they wish to replicate. Some gamers are architects, and will spend hours building and furnishing lavish mansions—with the help of cheat codes to get more money—before moving sims into them. Others enjoy tracing the circle of life: university, work, marriage, children and, eventually, death . Anarchists might prefer to push their sims into the depths of crime, celebrity or even vampirism.
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