On Animal Crossing and Life, the Universe, and Everything

So I've found myself rather engaged in the new Animal Crossing game for Wii.  If you've read any reviews, you know that it's pretty much the DS game with a few new shinies, but I still find it fun.  Such being the case, I've been thinking about the nature of its appeal and what the game says about life in general.

Okay ... before you give me that look for associating Animal Crossing with the meaning of life, hear me out.  Animal Crossing, for any who don't know, is a Nintendo-developed life game.  As in, a game in which you live life.  The town in which you find yourself is filled with animal people to keep you company, and via WiFi, you can always go visit one of your friends in his/her town.

But playing AC makes you ask an important question: "What's the point?"  No, I'm not talking in a "meaning of life" sense (yet) but more of a "goal of the game" sense.  What is the goal of life in AC?  In the end, the point is to get money so you can have a nice home, nice stuff, and a nice town.  That's the point.  That's what it all comes down to.

Now comes the transition from virtual to real.  If that is the point of the game, what does that say about the game designer's view of real life?  If the game is (loosely) based on real life, are the goals of the game seen as the same goals of real life?  It scares me to think it, but I can only conclude that the game more or less reflects the outlook of the one who designed it.  And that being the case, how sad is that?  How sad is a life without purpose?

So then, is life without purpose?  Or is the purpose of life simply to get as much stuff as you can?  Is it to make your town a better place by planting trees and building bridges?  As a Christian, I can answer these questions with a resounding "no," but at the same time, I know there are people who think along these lines.  Perhaps money is not the ultimate goal, but rather it's relationships.  Perhaps it's living according to a moral code.  Perhaps it's notoriety.  Whatever it is, ultimately it amounts to nothing, just as the bells (the currency) of Animal Crossing ultimately count for nothing.

But my musings didn't end there.  I thought of the AC the game.  Why is the ultimate goal to get money and make your town better?  Because the game designer made it so.  Since the game designer created the world of AC, he got to define the parameters for success, as well as set up the word to give opportunity to players for achieving success.  AC is designed so that players driven to make money succeed at the game, while players who don't have that drive don't progress as well.

In this way, AC is more or less the same as the real world.  For the real world, too, has a Creator.  And as that Creator, he has defined the parameters for success: trusting in him, and consequently obeying his commands.  And he has set up the world so that it presents opportunities for success.  And so life has a purpose - faith in Christ - as outlined by the Creator.

And that is one thing that Christianity has to offer the rest of the world: purpose.  We know the Designer.  He's revealed how he's set everything up.  Rather than trying to invent our own purpose, we follow the purpose around which the world was made.

Quite a lot to think about from a silly animal game from Nintendo.