Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Nintendo, 2020

Plastic and electronic components

3.1 x 2.1 x 3 cm

Purchased at Best Buy in Waterloo, Ontario

Personal collection

The mission of museums typically focus on ensuring the best possible experience for visitors, aiming to present objects to reflect their mission. As the virus accelerates us further into a digital future, it is important to consider what we can learn from technology and how it improves life, and might potentially reduce the impact of future pandemics. It is a rather unprecedented time; COVID-19 has created a truly new situation for many. Most of the population does not spend weeks at a time at home, following strict guidelines in an effort to flatten the curve. The challenges that arise often come with fighting boredom. There are many ways families, couples and individuals are entertaining themselves, with things like board games, video games, puzzles, and watching movies.

Video games find new prominence, offering options to play alone, with friends, or strangers. Animal Crossing: New Horizons was newly released for the Nintendo Switch on March 20th, 2020.A side from completing final assignments, this is how I will spend some of my time at home - playing with some of my friends who also have the game virtually. Both my passport and the game speak to the theme of retreat and play, important in the current situation. The game has a communication component to and so it allows players to stay connected in a virtual setting. Although isolation is difficult for most, it is in the best interest of everyone and it is taxing on the human psyche because it is in our nature as humans to remain social. The potential of objects such as this is to connect players over distance, creating new social spaces.

Sara Filipopoulos