The National Videogame Museum has a launched a new website that's funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Museums Association: The Animal Crossing Diaries. In it, players talk about their personal stories playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons during the 2020 and 2021 global lockdowns. While it doesn't contain new information about the latest Animal Crossing updates or Brewster, you can check out the website here and get your Animal Crossing fix.
“Animal Crossing Diaries collects the unique perspectives of players making a game a creative and social space of their own. This game has shaped so many people’s experiences of the pandemic across the world. In turn, project contributors have shaped this project by trusting us with powerful moments from their real and virtual lives. This initiative marks a new turning point for the NVM in focusing more on lived experiences of play. It also shows immense potential for museums to collect these experiences as a new, powerful form of social history," said Claire Mead, Programme and Collections Manager at the National Videogame Museum.
What is The Animal Crossing Diaries?
The project initially came into being as a response to the lockdowns caused by COVID-19, and is an "examination into the role that videogames played for their users in that period of unprecedented social isolation." The exhibition will look into different players' histories with the game as they explain their experiences with the game during these unprecedented times.
The online exhibition allows users to search through the stories via different themes. These are Keeping a Routine, Staying in Touch, Sharing Creativity, Representing Yourself and Making Your Space. The themes were all created to showcase the experiences that players have gone through with the game. There's also a timeline that shows which events occurred during this period such as seasons, special events, campaigns, and political protests.
"We’re absolutely thrilled to fund this unique work that demonstrates the importance of people’s stories in museums. With this project the NVM are documenting a moment in history through the lens of individual gameplay," said Sarah Briggs, Collections Development Officer of the Museums Association.
If you're out of lockdown and want to play something Animal Crossing related with friends and family, maybe you should check out Animal Crossing Monopoly. After all, Park Place won't buy itself, eh?
What do you think of The Animal Crossing Diaries? Let us know in the comments!