Animal Crossing was probably the first time I really understood the concept of not just debt, but being crushed by debt.

For the uninitiated, this is how Animal Crossing works: you, as a human, live in this little town that’s populated by anthropomorphic animals. It’s mostly randomly generated so each person’s town is slightly unique. When you first move in to your town, you’re given a house by the local merchant Tom Nook (the raccoon on the right). It isn’t until you’ve already moved in that he reveals to you that you’re indebted to him for 100,000 bells (the game’s currency) and he forces you to work in his store as an indentured servant. After a few days (literal. days.) worth of doing delivery work, you’re freed from your servitude but not from your debt. Thank goodness Tom Nook didn’t charge interest or your in-game circumstances would be that much more dire.

You do a bunch of random gathering to gain up money to pay back your loan and just when you think you’re finally free from the crushing weight of Tom Nook’s thumb… he adds a second story onto your house! And the cycle of debt begins again.

For most of your play-time with the game you’re not making money to do cool stuff like decorate your house or buy NES emulations; you’re just making money to pay off Tom “Fat Cat” Nook. Frankly it’s shocking how closely this goofy game populated by cartoon ducks and cats reflects the stark realities of modern living.

-Joe