How Animal Crossing Gave Me Space I Needed
We are two people and a dog, and we live in a two-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles. Which is more than fine. But in June 2020, it was not. That summer, the office where my husband Abe spends all day editing two TV shows was overheating from the direct sunshine and computers. There was no space outside to just sit and breathe, without masks on. Someone was always walking by, someone’s kitchen window was always to our left or right.
Abe and I toyed with the idea of moving. Maybe subletting our place for a few months and going east, maybe buying a home with a yard somewhere in Los Angeles. But as the number of COVID-19 cases grew, and the real estate market got more and more competitive, we realized it wasn’t a reality.
So I decided to escape, virtually. I purchased Animal Crossing New Horizons somewhat later in quarantine, after watching everyone we knew talking about things like “turnips” and “bells.” I didn’t understand what they meant, and I didn’t know what the point was in a game with no villain to beat.
I created my character (“Julius”) and named my island (“Gohanna”) and wandered around my empty island, frantically mashing all the buttons on the controller — something I often do when I start a…
