Chrissy Teigen roasted Animal Crossing for teaching us horrible morals, and she's absolutely right
A new smartphone obsession brought people together this holiday weekend. And no, we're not talking about the price of bitcoin or the trivia game HQ.
Animal Crossing, a video game first released for Nintendo 64 back in 2001, came to smartphones last week. As advertised in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, players build their own campsites and make friends along the way. Players can add IRL people via personal codes and "befriend" virtual animals.
But that's where things get problematic, as Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and OG Animal Crossing player Chrissy Teigen pointed out over the weekend. These virtual animals — or as Teigen calls "animal people things" — will only agree to come over if players complete a handful of tasks, like build them a requested chair or collect five peaches.
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One Twitter user even created a cartoon summarizing the game and shared it with Teigen over Twitter:
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For the record: I've been playing Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and I agree with Teigen. While I've enjoyed adding IRL friends to Animal Crossing network and some of the activities like decorating my camper and catching fish, it's completely frustrating that these "animal people things" will not come over my camp unless I follow their very specific demands.
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I mean, I get it. Some people — or "animal people things" — will only want to hang out with you if you have something they want.
It's worth noting that these "animal people things" are not just taking, taking, taking. If players complete their tasks, they get hearts (to level up) and other goods. But there's a reason I'm still at Level 2: I'm annoyed at the materialism in this Animal Crossing society.
Meanwhile, Teigen is spending IRL dollars on virtual currency. Leaf tickets help players speed up the game, like build goods faster.
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But she's not happy about it.
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Play or don't play. Just know that I don't care what you build in your campsite. I'll come over.
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Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
