Animal Crossing, Mental Health, and Human Connection During a Time of Social Distancing

Image description: Two Animal Crossing Villagers standing on brown dirt and green grass in front of a green tent and trees, One person is wearing a mask and saying “we r social distancing.”

In a time where social distancing is being encouraged by the CDC, people with mental health and chronic health issues are finding ourselves at risk of more than just of contracting and spreading COVID-19. According to Project LETS, a New York based organisation that builds peer-led communities of support, education & advocacy for folks with lived experience of mental illness, trauma, Disability, and/or neurodivergence, “there is an inevitable mental health crisis waiting in the wings. Layoffs, being houseless, and social isolation are the perfect storm of suicide triggers.”

Image description: A teal blue background with an image of a black telephone with a yellow cord in the top right corner. A black box of text underneath states “There is an inevitable mental health crisis waiting in the wings. Layoffs, being houseless, and social isolation are the perfect storm of suicide triggers.” Black text at the bottom states, “We need to step up as a community. Move beyond asking if folks are okay. Ask if they’re safe. Ask if they have somewhere to live. Help them navigate social services + find mutual aid funds to offset costs. Ask if they have access to their medications. We need to do more.” The top left corner states, “Source: Project LETS / Informed by content from: @elliottdunstan.

As a suicide survivor with complex mental and physical health conditions that stem from trauma, this experience has been both terrifying and…oddly comforting. I am so used to living in survival mode and isolating myself from my loved ones already due to my conditions. In the past two weeks alone, I have lost multiple work opportunities and my partner was let go from his new job, as the firm he was working for felt they needed to look after their other existing staff during this pandemic. I have only left the house to see my therapist and have asked my housemates to practice social distancing with me. I’ve been ruminating in anxiety and guilt around having to set boundaries and quite honestly, it was starting to feel really scary and lonely. We have never been in this position before and it’s frightening. We shouldn’t have to be looking for or prioritising work and being “productive” over the safety of our communities during a global crisis and we are not alone. So how are we coping with all of this as we begin our Centrelink applications while praying for the collapse of capitalism (with the exception of Tom Nook of course)? Way back when my partner Max and I were both employed full-time, we invested in a Nintendo Switch gaming console.

This past weekend, Nintendo released its newest addition to the Animal Crossing series, “Animal Crossing: New Horizons”. For those who don’t know, Animal Crossing is a social simulation video game created by Katsuya Eguchi. When Eguchi was a 21-year-old graduate and moved from his hometown in Chiba, Japan to Tokyo to work for Nintendo, he left his family and friends behind and found himself feeling very lonely. “In doing so, I realised that being close to them — being able to spend time with them, talk to them, play with them — was such a great, important thing. I wondered for a long time if there would be a way to recreate that feeling, and that was the impetus behind the original Animal Crossing.”

Image description: The cover for Animal Crossing for GameCube — A cartoon house with a red roof sitting on a hill with an Animal Crossing villager standing at the front door and all of their animal villager friends standing at the windows. There are two cat villagers, a panda villager, and a bunny villager. There is a duck villagerin the background. There is a sign that says “Welcome to Animal Crossing. Population: Growing!”

The first time I played Animal Crossing, I was 10-years-old and my best friend Brian who lived across the street from my childhood home was recovering from a serious knee injury. We played together for hours on end on his GameCube console, and I became so obsessed with it that my dad brought me to Blockbuster to rent the game to play at home, and when I played that to bits, we bought it for the house. My little sister Gaby and I built our town together and would go back over the years to squish cockroaches in our house, pick some weeds, and say hello to our favourite animal villager friends for comfort. The soundtrack is always so calming and inviting, no matter the time of day. Trust me, there are hours and hours of just the Animal Crossing soundtrack on Youtube (ACMR?!).

Over the years I’ve found myself trying to fill my Animal Crossing void with Pocket Camp, which is cute and has fabulous furniture, but there is nothing like the real deal. When I heard they were releasing a new Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Switch, I nearly lost my absolute mind in excitement. During the months leading up to it, it was all I could talk (or meme) about while I went from specialist to specialist to work through my conditions. And when the Coronavirus arrived and things got harder, all I could think was “DEAR NINTENDO, PLEASE JUST RELEASE ANIMAL CROSSING TO US ALREADY!”

Image description: Two Animal Crossing villagers standing next to each other on green grass in the rain.

Upon release, there was a wave of both warm nostalgia and new excitement all across social media. There has also been a wave of a different kind of human connection in a time where we have been feeling really disconnected. It’s been beautiful. I am getting to experience Max explore the game for the very first time and it makes my heart swell. This morning we opened our new museum and Nook’s Cranny! And just yesterday, I got to run around my island with my little sister Gaby despite living on opposite ends of the world.

Image description: A house with a purple roof and a red door on the beach with a racoon figurine and two Animal Crossing villagers standing in front holding vaulting poles. To the left of the house is a birdhouse and mailbox, to the right a clay furnace and coral. There is a campire in front of the house closer to the ocean.

I moved from New York to Sydney nearly 5 years ago now, and so being far away from loved ones during such a tumultuous time in both politics and global health has been really difficult for me emotionally. Yesterday morning I cried sad tears because I was feeling so defeated by our situation. But after Gaby visited my island I cried happy tears because I realised that this game has already changed the way we are going to interact and cope during this challenging time.

Image description: The inside of an Animal Crossing villager’s home. There is a rainbow couch, a fireplace with a rose and mirror placed on top, a fishtank with a succulent on top, and a guitar in the corner. On the left handside there is a lit candle at the window. In the middle of there room is a wooden table with a Nintendo Switch and a book on top, behind an Animal Crossing villager dressed like Sailor Saturn from Sailor Moon. On the wall are two posters: the Puerto Rican resistance flag (three black stripes, 2 white strips, 1 white star with black background) and the bisexual flag (pink, purple, and blue.)

After posting multiple screenshots of my cute new house, outfit designs, and beach sceneries, I was inundated with messages from friends from within our community here in Sydney and all around the globe! They had either already bought the game, or asked if they should — which I furiously encouraged. I’m now able to invite some of my closest real life and internet friends, Max’s cousin Hugh’s new fiancée Lauren, Sam in New York who asked me to be on their podcast (and we’ve been friends and comrades ever since!) and Sophia who I used to stand with at our middle school bus stop to my island. This afternoon, I played Animal Crossing with Brian, who used to live across the street from me when we were children, for the first time in nearly 20 years. It is nothing short of a source of magical, wholesome, and adorable comfort considering the current circumstances we face together.

According to its creator Katsuya Eguchi, “Animal Crossing features three themes: family, friendship and community.” People with mental and chronic health issues and disabilities have been using gaming and social media to access these themes since long before now. Though neurotypical people often think and say we are too caught up in our screens escaping “real life,” we are all now in a “real life” situation where these kinds of interactions are going to be essential for the health and survival of many of us. Let’s embrace and utilise these tools as the channels for connection that they are. We can #staythefuckhome and play together!

Image description: Three Animal Crossing villagers standing together on the beach next to a racoon figurine.