Has Animal Crossing benefited your mental health/taught you any life lessons?

[Chipl95]

Animal Crossing has been a huge help in my life lately with going to college and other stresses in my life. I got into Wild World when I was 10 and had the original DS Phat and loved to interact with my villagers and build my town. (I used to reset a lot and make new towns over and over) I would bring my DS to school to play with at recess with my friends and at daycare on Fridays when we were allowed to bring electronics. We made up stories and played in each other's towns and got in trouble for swearing on the in game chat. I also drew paper dolls of my character so I could change up her clothes, shoes, and other accessories. I like to think I predicted that we could change our chatacter's clothes one day.


I bought New Leaf in 2013 when I bought my first 3DS and I started my first town called Tree. It was an inside joke with my then-boyfriend and he got a copy so we could play it together. I would cycle in and out of interest and it drove him insane because he always wanted to play it. He also tried to cut my trees down sometimes and I would end the multiplayer session, making him angry and making him say he was just joking. I broke up with him eventually and continued to play on my old town, still cycling in and out of interest. Whenever I loaded it up it reminded me too much of him, so I decided about a year later to just reset it. I made Duskfall in May 2018 and have been playing pretty much daily since. I feel I enjoy it more than I did when I was with my ex and worrying about him and him destroying my town or controlling it.


I have autism, PTSD, and other mental health issues and Animal Crossing helps me to relax. After I had a hard day at college, I like to load up my game and just go to Duskfall, my safe space. I have learned to plant flowers, enjoy fruit, and map out my ideal town. I am still learning a lot about the franchise, even with how long I have been involved in it. I learn about features I didn't realize existed and I go and try them out.

 

[spunkystella]

I know after a long hard day I can go home and talk to my little animal friends who are never mean to me. Decorating a town and moving in and out little furry friends really brightens my mood. I have some pretty intense issues and this game never fails to make me feel better

 

[Croconaw]

Animal Crossing was my escape. I used to get bullied during my time in middle school and high school. That really messed with my self-confidence, but these virtual animals gave me a friend to talk to. Those virtual animals made me feel like somebody cared enough to ask how my day was and talk with me about anything. I wasn?t getting any real friendships in real life, so Animal Crossing was my escape to a better life. The game made me very happy. I remember running home from school everyday to play Animal Crossing aNd to check on my villagers. The villagers gave me a bond I never had with anyone in person. Even the snooty villagers were nicer than my closest friend (back in middle school) in real life. Animal Crossing is a wonderful game and it definitely has a special place in my heart.

 

[mooing]

Animal Crossing has been a huge help in my life lately with going to college and other stresses in my life. I got into Wild World when I was 10 and had the original DS Phat and loved to interact with my villagers and build my town. (I used to reset a lot and make new towns over and over) I would bring my DS to school to play with at recess with my friends and at daycare on Fridays when we were allowed to bring electronics. We made up stories and played in each other's towns and got in trouble for swearing on the in game chat. I also drew paper dolls of my character so I could change up her clothes, shoes, and other accessories. I like to think I predicted that we could change our chatacter's clothes one day.


I bought New Leaf in 2013 when I bought my first 3DS and I started my first town called Tree. It was an inside joke with my then-boyfriend and he got a copy so we could play it together. I would cycle in and out of interest and it drove him insane because he always wanted to play it. He also tried to cut my trees down sometimes and I would end the multiplayer session, making him angry and making him say he was just joking. I broke up with him eventually and continued to play on my old town, still cycling in and out of interest. Whenever I loaded it up it reminded me too much of him, so I decided about a year later to just reset it. I made Duskfall in May 2018 and have been playing pretty much daily since. I feel I enjoy it more than I did when I was with my ex and worrying about him and him destroying my town or controlling it.


I have autism, PTSD, and other mental health issues and Animal Crossing helps me to relax. After I had a hard day at college, I like to load up my game and just go to Duskfall, my safe space. I have learned to plant flowers, enjoy fruit, and map out my ideal town. I am still learning a lot about the franchise, even with how long I have been involved in it. I learn about features I didn't realize existed and I go and try them out.

I'm really proud of everyone here who has been able to use Animal Crossing to cope with their mental health But considering that you suffer with some less common/more severe ones, I just wanna tell you I'm very proud of you in general!

Aside for that, for me, I have generalized anxiety and Animal Crossing has really helped me when I felt unmotivated to go out in the world. Having the control to shape this lil world into just what you want it to be is really enjoyable and takes your mind into a happy and simple place
Also yeah, the ability to identify more obscure sea creatures and bugs in real life is kinda fun hah. My triplet brother used to go fishing a lot, so I could be like "That's a cherry salmon. Right? I know stuff "

 

[Tri]

I think not being able to control everything in AC helps me a lot...I know a lot of people here get relief from micromanaging but I feel like that interacts badly with my IRL trust issues. I like that there isn't even the illusion of influencing villagers (other than right before they move), yet the game can still be rich and fufilling while doing my own thing.

I've been grieving most of the year and I wish AC could help more with it. Conceptually I really like that it's virtually impossible to get a moved villager back when playing without TT-ing or amiibo, but I'm also not so connected to any character I'd be desperate to.

 

[Nurylon]

Fuchsia taught me that putting malt vinegar and salt on fries is absolutely delicious, because she out of the blue asked how I like my potatoes and reccomended it to me. Malt has probably become my favourite condiment since!

Vote was:
I have learnt things from it but it hasn't benefited my mental health

 

[rianne]

I have GAD and like many others have said before me, it's an escape. I don't have to "adult" as much beyond my mayoral tasks in my town. I can play ACNL with friends and my partner and destress. It's such a calming game for me and it's helped my mental health remain relatively stable since I got it 5 years ago. I've been playing AC since the GC version and I just never played CF and Festival but all the other games were so important to my personal development and growth. Idk what I would've done without AC, not even kidding.

 

[PugLovex]

I;m not really sure if this is a lesson, but when I was 6, I went to go buy a fish. My mom asked what kind of fish I wanted, and I said Rainbow Trout because I had gotten the idea from Gamecube xd

 

[Flare]

It would honestly be surprising for anyone to not find this game relaxing unless they had a town full of Resettis.

 

[Snowesque]

Not necessarily, I see it as mostly a distraction, busy work to temporarily forget.
Everyone's different, though.

 

[boring]

ive been playing ac since i was four years old, so from a very young age id say i was influenced really positively by my kind neighbours, because there was always a current villager i wanted to act like, so it all and all lead me to develop some very positive habits in terms of socialising.

However, when I was in 6th grade I developed some mental health issues, and over the years these have built up, but I have always found that when i play ac, i feel much better. im in control of my town, i can make everything perfect and happy, people dont bully me in the game, and if im being honest its kept me sane and somewhat happy even through these really rough years with my mental illnesses. its just another world, where im not in any danger and i dont feel bad, and ive played for 14 hours straight at times when im really down in the dumps because even if im not doing anything anybody else would consider 'productive', to me animal crossing is healing, and when i play it im taking a mental break,.

 

[lunatepic]

it's definitely always been a big stress reliever and helped my mental health a lot as a young kid, even if i didn't realize it at the time

i started playing the original gamecube game when i was like three so it also kind of helped me in learning how to read!

 

[Lemonsky]

I feel like the game has been a positive influence for me for sure. It's such a cutesy, friendly game that has made me feel better when things have been hard, and it was really comforting to play during a difficult time earlier in the year. I remember villagers saying kind things to me and that somehow made everything a bit easier to bear.

 

[Halloqueen]

I can't say that the series has taught me much. It probably has benefited my mental health in that it's just a pleasant way to spend some time if I need that. I can't say it's entirely stress free because sometimes you're trying to do something specific and it can get annoying (trying to catch particularly rare insects or fish, farming Public Works Project suggestions from villagers, or trying to meet some sort of goal) but it's mostly just a nice little distraction that allows you to take your mind off other things for a while.