Ketchup courtesy by sofiasketch.tumblr.com.
Once again, Nintendo has used their ludicrously cute bipedal animals in order to goad me and millions of others into buying their game. Or in this case, downloading the “Animal Crossing” app, Pocket Camp, in the app store. The company has now come one step closer to controlling our minds via chips-in-the-brain, by subliminally placing their products that everyone uses and will continue to use every day in their life. I, for one, welcome our videogame overlords.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen their IP’s go viral vis-a-vis our smartphones. Pokemon Go hit its peak late 2016, and has over 100 million downloads and earns 10 million daily revenue. Though, to be fair, this app is produced by Niantic, a smaller but still successful gaming company using the “Pokemon” method of business: Make it “Pokemon”. Nonetheless, I LOVE IT.
The main differences in “Animal Crossing” and the app, Pocket Camp, are that the processes in order to meet the animals are significantly streamlined. Think of it like “New Leaf”, only faster. Instead of a house, you get a camper. Instead of becoming a mayor for a colony of backwoods critters and developing their land, you get a campsite to decorate.
Of course, with all this fast-paced-ness that comes with entering the game, the dreaded slowing-down methods used by game developers via pay-to-play tactics rears its ugly head to follow. Though I can’t blame Nintendo for wanting to make money (the app is free to download, after all), using multi-colored animals in order to goad me into buying virtual Leaf Tickets to make furniture for my campsite faster is a little undermining of the game type, isn’t it?
“Animal Crossing” has always been about escaping from this world into your own, one where you decide where the house goes and how much you pay for it, if you have the bells available. The console games would have natural ways of slowing the process down, such as taking a physical 24 hours to build your house, or having the animals come over and visit for an hour. These concepts still hold semi-true within the app, but every now and then you can plug in actual money to see the campsite come alive before your eyes. It’s instant gratification via your wallet, something empty and electronic to spend your money on.
How deep are we in the throes of capitalism in order to blow 20 bucks on a Christmas tree and The Mouth Of Truth Statue? Yes, that is an actual item you can get, and yes, you can spend actual money on this:
Mouth Truth NewLeaf.jpg, available only by befriending Antonio in Pocket Camp. Via:animalcrossing.wikia.com/wiki/File:MouthTruth_NewLeaf.jpg
Despite the pressure to give my hard earned cash to these raccoons, I’ve still found that there’s a lot of fun to be had in the game. If you play it traditionally, meaning having patience with the time constraints and dailies, the experience is enjoyable, cute and relaxing. I love these acid wasteland, bipedal, animalistic beings.