I thought I was seeing things. You Tube videos of islands with layouts and items I couldn’t imagine creating in a little over a month. Time travel, i.e. changing the system clock so that the game things it’s further along in the year, has been around Animal Crossing since Mr. Resetti yelled at me for not exiting the GameCube game properly. Apparently now it’s opened a whole world of bragging rights for who can stream the perfect island. The online component has allowed trading and commerce in game items and characters at unprecedented levels. I have to ask, are we playing the same game any more.

I suppose it’s fitting as the world suffocates under late stage Capitalism and wealth envy that as pure a concept as a game about communication would be so overwhelmed and bastardized as this. I don’t think this is how you’re “supposed” to play this game. Before you blast me, I know there a many ways to play a game and many ways to get enjoyment from it. That is why the, supposed, is in quotation marks. I just never seen anything taken to this level. See Raymond Breaks the Internet from the folks at Polygon.

The update Nintendo released this week in April is supposed to weaken the bell economy. I think I’d rather see a return of Mr. Resetti. I guess we will see what effect this has. I suspect not much. In the online world there markets devoted to all the most popular games where even fake currency carries real world value in the form of bragging rights and stream subscribers. So to you, the Nuevo Rich of Nook Island, I raise a glass of Tom Nook’s finest. You’ve taken a game I’ve played for 15 years some place I never imagined possible.