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Sun 12 Feb, 2006 08:57 pm
When Mo goes to bed, I pay off his house.
Actually, I've paid off the 19,800 bells to buy the house but I still owe 23,000 bells out of the 150,000 bells we had to pay for the expansion.
We've donated a lot of things to the museum, written a lot of letters, made a lot of friends and planted a lot of flowers but the wishing well tells us Pook is still imperfect.
Mo and I are playing "Animal Crossing".
For the uninitiated, "Animal Crossing" is a video game. You (Mo) moves to a new town (Pook) and starting with nothing you build a life. You get a job to pay for your house. You meet the neighbors. You try to make your town perfect. You build snowmen. You dig fossils. You buy and sell. You make friends. You make enemies. You fish. You practice forestry managment. You budget. You pull up weeds. You shake trees. You collect shells. You write letter after letter after letter because mail is a BIG part of living in Pook.
Mo has learned a lot from this game.
When he goes to bed at night I log on and and race around and pay off his house because I want him to have fun and get ahead. I want him to plant flowers and plant trees and go fishing and build snowmen and look at all the stuff in the museum and go bug hunting and have a basement to put his wheelbarrow and, and, and.
Visiting Pook is a whole heck of a lot like living here inside my own skin inside my own house.
I just thought I'd tell you.
Don't forget to let Mo learn a little self-enterprise. I'd guess that "Pook" is a 5-10 year old game, so he doesn't have to be a Pook Master today or tomorrow--just don't make it too easy.
It sounds like a wonderful game for Mo--a world he can control when he follows the rules.
I identify.
Doesn't seem very relaxing, though...
I use to know a boy named Pookie.
Look at this, would you?
My favorite people all gathered to discuss life in Pook!
It really is a fun game because nobody tries to kill you and you don't try to kill anyone. I think it is the only video game that acts like this.
The game takes place in real time. Sometimes the store is closed. Sometimes the lazy lady is working at the post office. You can only buy turnips on Sunday. The street musician is only there on Saturday night. The museum curator sleeps all day so if you wake him up you have to listen to him ramble but if you go at night you're in and out in no time flat. You have to save your raffle tickets until the last day of the month (be careful that you don't give them away!)
You have to know a little feng shui. You have to keep your house clean. If you don't, the HRA will score your house low.
The nicer you make your town the more people move in. The more people who move in, the more opportunity you have to do favors for people. The more favors you do for people, the more presents you get.
You have to make decisions about what is important enough to carry in your pockets.
If you take care of your neighborhood the mayor might build you a bridge.
Money falls out of the trees sometimes when you shake them but if you shake to many, the bees attack you. If the bees attack you the residents of Pook are a bit disgusted with your greedy self.
If you break the rules you get in trouble. People get mad at you. They walk around with storm clouds over their heads and they won't talk to you.
Sometimes the townsfolk cheat you.
Pook is a very interesting place.
Noddy is right -- Pook is a good place for Mo to visit.
I know a pooka, her name is Debbie.
Now let me ask you...exactly why, while he's asleep, do you pay off Mo's house? Shouldn't you let him do that?
Yeah, I should, I know I should.
He's only five years old and he should have to worry about paying off even an imaginary house at this point.
I suppose that's why Pook is such a metaphor for our lives.
what system is this game on?
Nintendo Gamecube.
There is a new Animal Crossing game that is on the new hand-held Nintendo fancy gameboy too.
I hadn't heard of this one, boomer. We're into Runescape here. (Give him a few years...)
You could make it sort of a bonus system...if Mo makes certain goals, you will pay off the house, etc. That way it brings the goals down to his level.
this game sounds addicting..
but then I am a big fan of Sims series .. so this is up my alley.
Once, years ago, I played half a game of Pong.
That was my total exposure to Video Gaming.
I'm reading Edward Castronova's
synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games.
P. 13: "By my own estimates, the collective volume of annual trade in synthetic worlds, is at this writing, almost certainly above $1 billion."
Ongoing data reported on
http://mypage.iu.edu~castro.
Analyzed at: Terra Nova
http://terranova.blogs.com/
For anyone who pre-dates Pong, a billion dollars is a lot of money.
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