Playing Animal Crossing to Relieve Stress

2020 was a rough year for many reasons: continued social injustice, a pandemic, and another year lived without a One Direction reunion. The one constant that helped me make it through the year, besides the support from my friends and family, was the one and only Tom Nook and my villagers on the island of Eroda (previously titled Froot). “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” is a Nintendo Switch game that took the world by storm, and definitely flourished as a result of the great increase in time everyone’s spent staying home. In the game, you are tasked with establishing a community on a deserted island under the direction of Tom Nook. You complete tasks that include setting up a home, paying off loans, adding to the island’s museum collection, and reaching best friend status with your villagers. You can even invest in the “stalk” market. What exactly is it that makes so many people dedicate many hours and sleepless nights to this game? Is it the adorable villagers chatting with you and giving you words of encouragement? Is it the euphoric feeling of paying off a home loan? Or maybe it’s the endless possibilities you have to decorate the island however you want. To me, it is all of those things and more. 

For my 20th birthday last year, a little over a week after the world shut down, I decided to splurge and buy myself a Switch Lite to join in on the "Animal Crossing" craze. Admittedly, I was experiencing FOMO from seeing everyone rejoice in the fact that a new "Animal Crossing" game had been released. Was this purchase slightly impulsive? Yes, but what can I say, I’m an Aries. With this being my first step in the "Animal Crossing" realm, I had no clue what to expect. You are welcomed to the island with two other randomly-generated villagers, a sisterly and jock personality type, but more on that later. Immediately you are tasked with collecting tree branches and setting up plots. The game progresses through setting up plots of land to have more villagers move in, building up the infrastructure, and beautifying the island. The goal is to reach a 3 out of 5-star rating in order to have the world-renowned K.K. Slider visit and perform on the island — think Harry Styles but as an "Animal Crossing" icon. Once you’ve reached a 3 out of 5 star rating and have K.K. visiting every Saturday, the real fun begins: terraforming! It is one of the best things to happen since sliced bread. You can build or demolish cliffs, build waterfalls, and so forth to make your island a unique paradise to enjoy with your villagers. If you have a Nintendo Online membership, you can visit your friends and send them gifts, which was super helpful over quarantine. The possibilities are endless with regards to the super extravagant structures and landscapes you can have on your island. 

What had me spending almost all my free time on the Switch perfecting my island over the last few months was exactly that — I was in control of this island. During a time when everything around me changed rapidly every day and was beyond my control, "Animal Crossing" provided an outlet to make decisions that were within my control. Cheesy, I know, but after being separated from my best friends and having to adjust to a completely online learning format, feeling so alone and thinking that everything was out of control began to consume most of my days. When I play "Animal Crossing", I can express my creative side and let my imagination take over, allowing me to forget about the real world for a moment. I can decide where a building goes and who moves to my island, and I am allowed to make this imaginary world my own. It gave me some comfort knowing that no matter how my day went, I could hop on my island and it will be exactly how I left it, ready for my next project. There is no deadline to complete tasks, no pressure to make the island look a certain way; it is just another way to escape my real-world responsibilities for a bit when TikTok gets boring. 

Another thing about "Animal Crossing" that has me keep coming back is the villagers. Not only are they absolutely adorable, but they all vary slightly in personality and have unique catchphrases. There are eight different personality types: sisterly, jock, peppy, normal, lazy, cranky, snooty, and smug. Having villagers of different personalities on your island helps increase the amount of DIY recipes you encounter and the reactions you can collect. I am partial to peppy characters because they are always the cutest of the bunch, as they talk about being pop stars. Rosie is by far my favourite peppy character, she is the cutest purple cat that always makes you smile when you see her, and she was on my first island before I restarted. My next favourite personality type is normal, with Maple being the most adorable of them all. She is the cutest little bear cub that makes you long for your old teddy bear, and her catchphrase is “honey,” only adding to the level of utter cuteness. Fun fact: she is the name inspiration for a Squishmallow I bought recently, but that’s a story for a different day. Each villager is part of a certain species, which adds to the variety. A few are cats, elephants, monkeys, koalas, penguins, and wolves. There are many villagers in “New Horizons,” almost 400 to be exact, to “collect”. After a villager moves to the island, you can talk to them every day and give them gifts. The more you interact with them, the more friendship points you get and the closer you are to receiving their photo — the ultimate token of friendship. I currently have seven photos and am nowhere close to stopping, because receiving the first photo is the official seal of signing your soul away to this game.  

While "Animal Crossing" is all fun and games (literally), the main thing I want to stress here is to find a way to take care of yourself. This past year has been hard on everyone for a variety of reasons, and everyone deals with, is affected by, and processes traumatic events differently. Finding time throughout your day to take a break is very important and serves as a reminder to prioritise yourself. You can go for a walk, swipe aimlessly through Instagram, or just lay down for a moment. Do whatever you need to in order to to recharge for the rest of the day. Playing "Animal Crossing" is just one of the ways I take a break from the day and clear my head before getting back to work. Another wonderful way to check in on yourself is therapy. It takes a lot to make that decision, but it helps in more ways than none. Again, finding what makes you comfortable and recharged is what matters most. Take care of yourself, drink water, and hang in there, you’re doing amazing. 

There you have it, a look into the world of "Animal Crossing". Nintendo played all the right cards at the right time to create a community where everyone can share their excitement over “dreamie” villagers and island layouts or themes. Because of my dedication to the game, I have not ruled out the possibility of becoming a streamer that exclusively plays "Animal Crossing", because dental school is expensive. Check me out on Twitch, and if I give in to my temptations, we can visit each other’s islands. The "Animal Crossing" trend is reminiscent of the Nintendo DS days full of Kirby, Mario, and Nintendogs — a journey back to childhood days at home,playing for hours on games that required little brainpower. If you’re looking for a sign to jump on the "Animal Crossing" bandwagon, this is it.