Many of us are wasting away our lockdown by playing video games. Maybe you are constantly going on at your children asking them to do something other than play on their games console? How amazing would it be if there could be life lessons learned whilst playing games? Well there are! You can learn money lessons and so much more with Animal Crossing New Horizons.
What Is Animal Crossing New Horizons?
You might not be familiar with the world of Animal Crossing. It’s a series which has been on Nintendo consoles for a couple of decades. Since the first game in 2001, five Animal Crossing outings have made their way to different consoles including the N64, Gamecube, Wii and more recently the Nintendo Switch. Animal Crossing New Horizons is the latest game to come out, perfectly timed with the lockdown to keep those of us staying at home entertained. Due to so many people self isolating and looking for games to play, digital downloads of the game passes 5 million in a month. This has helped Nintendo stay healthy through the global Covid 19 pandemic.
Whats The Game About?
The Animal Crossing games are a social simulation series where the player lives as a human character in village. The other villagers are adorable animals who interact with our hero and they help guide the player through various activities like fishing and fossil hunting. The player can create a home and life in this world whilst also taking responsibility for living. The game seems to have high success because it uses our real world passage of time and is open ended, meaning you could play it forever.
What Are The Lessons We Can Learn In Animal Crossing New Horizons?
There are many lessons about life and even money that we can learn from Animal Crossing New Horizons. I don’t want to give too much away as I’d love for you to go and play the game yourself. The main one I want to focus on here is finance. The in-game currency is bells. When you move to the island you met the friendly Tom Nook, who offers to help set you up. Of course, as in life, nothing is free and you end up owing him 50,000 bells for the pleasure.
Pay the debt off and there’s an offer to upgrade your little tent to a house. Sounds lovely but there is more debt to pay off. You have to work to earn money to pay off the debt, by catching fish or farming fruits for example. It’s a lot like the daily grind of life. In the same passage of time as life too. However, the cute characters and beautiful game play makes it appealing and keeps you invested. In game loans here are interest free but the lessons learned here can be transferred to reality. Take a loan, buy what you need, work hard, pay off the debt, live happily.
Console Conclusion
The next time you’re shouting at your children for not doing their homework, think about this. Maybe they’ve got their head engrossed in a video game and are learning important life lessons. Tapping away on a games controller might annoy you but their brain might be figuring out the best way to pay back their debts within the game! They could come in very useful in a few years time when they have to decide what to do with their own money. Animal Crossing New Horizons shows that there are indeed lessons to be had all around us. You can find these lessons in the most unusual of places.
