Animal Crossing: New Horizonshas quickly become a cultural phenomenon that has impacted the world in a multitude of ways. Given the level of creativity and versatility of the game itself, there’s next to nothing that can’t be accomplished within the world ofAnimal Crossing: New Horizons. To the point where that level of creativity and influence within the world has even helped a criminal investigation.
The game sports a large variety of game mechanics to help players build and customize their island, as well as interact with players all over the world (evenLord of the RingsactorElijah Wood visited a random player’s island in-game). The game allows players from all over the world to interact with one another, which for one Switch user, ended up being more useful than they initially realized.
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A Taiwanese man left his Switch on top of an ATM while he was withdrawing some cash. A civilian later found the Switch and handed it over to the Taipei Police. Since there wasno way to identify who the Nintendo Switchbelonged to, the police were stumped in terms of how to get the Switch back to its rightful owner until a clever member of the force thought to useAnimal Crossingas a way of tracking down the owner.
Using theletter and gift sending systemimplemented withinAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, the police were able to send a message to one of the Switch user’s friends saying that the police had found his Switch and are ready to give it back to him. That is truly impressive police work on their part.
The friend later told the owner of the Switch, who then quickly rushed to the police station to retrieve it. This whole story goes to show how much of an impactAnimal Crossing: New Horizonshas had on the world. Of course, this is only one sample of evidence for this, asAnimal Crossingplayers have also theircustom clothing to a digital museumorganized by the Museum of English Rural Life for no reason but good will.
It’s been nearly four months sinceAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsfirst released, and in spite of the impact of COVID-19, the game has managed to bring people together in the most unexpected of ways. Whether that’s bonding overanime openings recreated in-gameor using the game as a way of returning a lost Nintendo Switch, this game has affected the world in numerous ways.
