Animal Crossing: New Horizons is essentially a capitalism simulator, in which we must continuously incur debt to create more value and encourage the growth of our community. Tom Nook, the raccoon capitalist overlord of our island, provides us with loans to upgrade the island. It is through him that all progress is made, as we construct new buildings and attract new islanders. Unlike the real world, Nook is a patient money lender, content to watch you trot about the island, lazily catching butterflies whilst making 0 attempts to pay back his loan. And yet without paying back that loan, you cannot grow your island. Visiting other islands will fill your heart with longing; *they* have given in to the toil of capitalism, and look how it has rewarded them. Is that a new swimming pool? The notion of consumerism pervades everything you do in Animal Crossing. Friendships rise and fall based on the value of the gifts you give. You work to sell items, to gain bells (the currency), to purchase items, to gift those items, and potentially gain a gift in return. The value of your gift determines the value of the gift you could get back. Give that squirrel a a grey treadmill and he'll love you forever. Give him trash, and maybe not so much. It's just like real life! The game even has its own stock market, nicknamed the stalk market. Every Sunday, a character called Daisy Mae will sell you turnips for an ever changing price. The idea is to sell the turnips at a shop for more than you paid. But the price changes twice a day, meaning there's a chance that you will end up taking a loss. What's more, the Turnips will spoil and devalue as the week goes on, meaning you cannot hold onto them for too long. In the end, Animal Crossing presents us with the idealistic view of capitalism, in which rich and poor can succeed so long as they put the work in. But make no mistake, Tom Nook is always watching, always waiting. He knows you want that extension on your house to hold all your turnips. In the end, he will win. He **always** wins.

**TL;DR- It’s true that Animal Crossing has loads of parallels to the capitalist society in which we live. However, it is a lot more than just capitalism with extra turnips, and is really only a cutesy capitalist stimulator if you want it to be.** There is an extensive list of things to do on Animal Crossing that have no relation to money and the ‘stalk market’ (which doesn’t exist in all the Animal Crossing games), such as making gardens and funfairs, decorating your home (extended in earlier games such as Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer), surprise parties, K.K Slider’s shows, helping the museum by donating bugs and fish, the list is endless, and the wholesome, escapist nature of it all certainly outweighs the capitalist undertones. Your friendship with villagers or islanders also has nothing to do with money, and is probably the most important part of the game. For example, give Raymond an orange and he’ll love you forever, or write a letter to Tangy and before you know it, you’re pen pals! There is nothing capitalist about that. The strong element of generosity is what makes the island go round, not bells and capitalism, and this extends to real people too through gaming communities. For example 25-year-old Jennilyn from Los Angeles ‘says at least 20 people have given her rare ‘rusted parts’ so she could build an in-game robot as a birthday gift for her boyfriend, who is a key worker’ [1]. So it connects people in real life too, through kind acts, not competing over bells and who has the biggest house. In conclusion, Animal Crossing is so much more than capitalism with turnips, it’s escapist, harmonious and highly therapeutic. If you don’t want to have a four-room house and millions of bells, effectively being the ruling class of your island/village, then you don’t have to (and you can ignore Tom Nook’s loans, he’s not going to evict you). Nothing is stopping you from having a house the same size as the other villagers, helping others in communities, and basically ignoring overlord Tom Nook, who doesn’t even have a house himself. [1] Amelia Tait in *The Guardian*, June 10, 2020 [https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/jun/10/animal-crossing-new-horizon-capitalist-dystopia-subreddit]