The game's creators intended it to be a tool for facilitating and encouraging communication between different Animal Crossing players, which goes beyond the allure of these in-game friendships and extends beyond the confines of the game. Thus, even when they were separated, different family members could participate in the same activity: perhaps Dad, returning home late from work, was able to track down the specific fish that Junior had been unable to locate earlier in the day. A feature that seemed like a miracle in the days before Nintendo introduced the concept of the internet was the ability for friends to swap memory cards in order to visit each other's villages. That the franchise has spawned a fan community that is as noisy and vibrant as a village square, exchanging fruit and flowers as well as advice and tricks, should come as no surprise.

The fact that most of us are ensconced in our social isolation cocoons makes the joy of Animal Crossing's social element all the more potent, as Kong points out. Please understand that she is referring to the game. The prospect of running errands for friends, seeing a familiar face, and giving them something they might enjoy, she says (again, without mentioning the game) is exhilarating. Many people, particularly those in the games industry, have relied on it as a mainstay for many years as a result of its popularity. It has, without a doubt, arrived at the appropriate point in time.

A delightful irony would result if the reality behind the scenes of Animal Crossing was bitchy and horrible, with the simmering antipathies and resentments that can be found in any workplace. The unfortunate reality is that the life-affirming magic of Animal Crossing items also works on the people who created the game, which is a sad reality to face.

As Kyogoku points out, the Animal Crossing development team is happier and more friendly than other Nintendo development teams, and they are having an overall better time as a result of their work on the game. They, like their characters, are more likely than not to remember special occasions, holidays, and each other's birthdays than they are to ignore such events and occasions. That it felt as if the tedious process of scouring the game for bugs and glitches during the torturous final stage of game development had taken place outside of the game development environment. Despite the fact that we were only testing the game, we had a great time. We had the impression that we were tinkering with the finished product, which was a lot of fun.

Generally speaking, when it comes to videogames, most people consider them to be the ultimate escapist art form, capable of making you blissfully unaware of your surroundings with the simple press of a button. And, without a doubt, that is a big part of what makes this game so appealing right now. You may come to realize, however, if you are in the sort of ruminative mood that  encourages, that the particular escapism that Animal Crossing provides is more like an escape back into normalcy, given the state of the world at the time you are playing the game. In it, you can enjoy some of life's pleasures that have become increasingly rare in recent years, such as shopping, traveling, visiting a natural history museum, keeping in touch with family and friends, or simply going outside to enjoy the unfolding of a springtime day, among other things. A poignant aspect of the fact that the world of Animal Crossing is more like the normal life we used to know than it is like the world we currently live in is that it evokes memories of a time when we were all more innocent.

The kind of thought that could make you feel down if you weren't playing Animal Crossing NMT, a game that does everything it can to reassure you, in the manner of a thoughtful and attentive friend: "Everything will be fine," says the game.