10. Neighbors
There is always that neighbor that is annoying as hell either because of their frequent parties, their noisy-always-barking dog, their terrible hygiene or manners (I still can't get over the fact that Ms. Mary told me I was a bitch just because I talked to another neighbor she hates but I get along with); I mean, the list could keep going, I've had terrible neighbors all of my life, but unlike Animal Crossing, we cannot get rid of them just by hitting them with a net… I mean… We could… But I'm not sure how… legal that is? Well, this takes us to the next point on this list.
9. Different personalities
As of Animal Crossing: New Horizons there are a total of 8 different personalities between female and male characters, in real life, there are way more than that; as human beings, we tend to sympathize with those who are similar to us, and in Animal Crossing that's no exception as you can frequently see villager hunts on AC forums, or streams showing their island with 10 villagers with the same personality (psychopath move if you ask me). Anyways, there will be people in real life who we will interact more with because of their personalities, but if we accept the fact that sometimes we won't have the opportunity to choose, social interactions might become easier for those of us who are of a more introverted mindset. Also, you might not love a personality type, but their appearance may be highly appealing (I'm talking to you peppy villagers… And that new workmate at my job).
8. Organizing your house is fun
There are LOTS of things that you can do on Animal Crossing; one of the favorites among fans is the ability to be able to decorate your own house with the hundreds of different items all across the series' existence. As the franchise has evolved, we have been given more and more options to decorate our house as we please the most. Yeah, sure; there are fans of the IP who might not like to decorate or change their house layout, but that takes us to the next point.
7. Cockroaches
Doing house chores is sometimes fun and some others annoying and time-consuming; we might not like to do cleaning, but an Animal Crossing reflection of real life is the fact that if you don't take enough care of your house, unwanted intruders are for sure going to invade your home and lead to other people not wanting to visit your place (I still remember the rejection I got from Cookie just because of ONE cockroach; I'm still hurt).
6. Wildlife
This one will highly differ depending on the place where you live, but that doesn't erase the fact that we humans are not the only species living on this planet, but some other hundreds and thousands all over the world. In Animal Crossing we live with different species of bugs, fish, and even some underwater ones and no matter what we do to our island layout, they are still going to be there.
5. Museum
One of my personal favorite places and activities to do in Animal Crossing is visiting Blathers' museum, that wonderful place where we can take the critters we catch with either our net, fish rod, or our bare hands all over our island. Museums in real life are nothing but a huge source of knowledge; thankfully, that is brought to the Animal Crossing universe where we can learn lots of things from the critters we catch and the fossils we dig out from the ground. I've also learned how relaxing it is to visit the museum in times of great stress.
4. Relax
Not only the museum is a good source of relaxing times in Animal Crossing; some others you can do is just walk around your island and enjoy the sounds of nature, the sea, the sky, and the overall tranquility the game offers by not doing anything specific. That's a perfect reflection of how we, part of a population of a crowded and speeded up world, should sometimes do: just exist and enjoy the small things the world has to offer, that included, just relaxing.
3. Patience
As we briefly talked about during the last lesson, we are used to getting anything and everything we want as soon as we please; but that's not how life always works. In Animal Crossing we get items, critters, and even in-game functionalities as time passes (most of the time) in the reality we live in; that means that we cannot start terraforming until usually two weeks later, we cannot either complete our museum and critterpedias and haven't gone through all months of spring, summer, fall, and winter. Jeez, we are even limited to how many items we can order from the Nook Shopping app on our Nook Phone a day because we are rewarded by waiting for so many other features. That includes paying our loan.
2. Loans and debts
I'm pretty sure most of us regular human beings have asked for a loan and have been or are in debt in one way or another; that doesn't mean we are irresponsible buyers and spend money we don't have on stuff we can't pay (I swear I really needed those new headphones mom!), it's just how the capitalist system we live in works! Credit scores, college payments, Tom Nook. Fortunately, we are not pressured by the money-hungry tanooki to pay our house loan immediately as we are given the chance to focus on the game features we feel more attracted to, leading us to our last lesson from this listing.
1. Perfection doesn't exist
We can have invested hundreds and even hundreds of hours into each different entry of the Animal Crossing series over the last couple of decades, but if we focus on reaching perfection, let me tell you, dear reader, that's never going to happen. There's always going to be something, even a tiny little thing we think we may have done differently and better; maybe it's true or maybe it isn't. Either way, perfection is not something we should be focused on or the game is going to get frustrating, just as it can happen in real life. Don't worry if that cliff didn't look as you thought it would in your mind; don't mind if you forgot to log in on one of your favorite villager's birthday; don't bother if you don't have enough time to turn your island into the dream paradise you'd like to live in. At the end of the day real life's control is out of anybody's hands, and while we may think that our Animal Crossing needs to be perfect, I don't think it needs to. It should just be memorable.
