a small shack to live in and a job of planting trees, delivering goods,and creating marketing materials on the town notice board (see figure 1). After completingthese chores, Nook releases the player to explore the town on his own. He may then work,trade, and personalize his environment. The game offers a series of innocuous, even mundaneactivities like bug catching, gardening, and wallpaper designing.One of the more challenging projects in the game is paying off the mortgage on one’shouse.Animal Crossingallows players to