The first time I heard about animal crossing was 2 years ago in my game design class. We were studying the phenomenon of simulations and multiplayer games.

The idea that people would play the game at certain times of the day was compelling. That people would wait until 4 pm or whatever specified time to do…something. That itself was interesting.

So when I got my hands on a Nintendo DS, I immediately started playing Animal Crossing. Note that I rarely if ever play games. If I do, it’s often slow spurts of tetris. There was once when I was hooked on drugwars for awhile. And snake on my phone. I played the itunes game on my ipod…but all that was for idling.

There was a point in my life when I was younger that I would play the Sims and SimCity until the depth of night (11 pm when that was considered late for my age). And then one day, I stopped playing, knowing that if I returned, it would stay the same as the last time I played it.

But in Animal Crossing, it’s not and perhaps that’s why it keeping me around. The fact that if I disappear for days, 3 weeds per day will appear. That I will never ever pay off the mortgage. That all the townspeople will be mad at me…

One thing that I have learned in Animal Crossing is that…money do fall off trees.