Here There Be Dinosaurs

I have found a surprising new addiction. Surprising probably to me alone – as I know a lot of people addicted to it – because I didn’t think I’d ever be susceptible to something as silly as this.

For me, all video games are not equal, or equally addicting. What I am easily addicted to are video games that involve generally being a hero via exploring and/or battling monsters and dragons and/or puzzle-solving and/or leveling up and developing characters.  And even more addicting than games, for me, are books that follow these same themes. (Most recently I read an entire novel in one day – about a 100-year-old man who escaped his retirement home and went on an impromptu adventure – because I simply couldn’t put it down).

So out of all the new games I bought or received over the winter break, Animal Crossing seemed like the least interesting one of the bunch as it pretty much lacks all of the above.

After trying out all my other new games, though, I decided I had to give it a try, if for no other reason than to ensure it actually worked before the return window was up. And much to my (and Hyrule’s, and Lorule’s, and the Mushroom Kingdom’s, and various other places-in-need-of-a-hero’s) dismay, I wasn’t able to stop. They had discovered my weakness…

Animals? Nope. Being friends with animals? Nope. Customizing your clothes, decorating your house, designing your village in the middle of nowhere? Yawn! Nope nope nope.

Collections.

One of my greatest weaknesses, one that has been largely suppressed for a long time due to necessity, spousal disapproval, and the impracticality of pandering to it while abroad, is collecting things. And not just any things: in Animal Crossing, along with fishes and bugs and furniture and random weird household accessories, you can also find and collect… dinosaur bones!

Obviously I don’t have a dinosaur bone collection in “real life.” Or, you know, my own aquarium or insectarium or art gallery or whatnot. But I do have an entire collection of collections. Most of them are dormant, in boxes in Canada in my in-laws’ basement, but some of my currently active collections include: a duck collection, a Chopper collection, a hat collection, a plushy collection, and last but definitely not least a video game collection.

So the ability to indulge my weakness unabashedly and without regard to cost, physical space or the logistics of eventually shipping things has proved too tempting to resist. This, combined with the recent demise of my computer and consequent lack of the ability to keep up with my blog reading and writing desires,* has found me spending possibly more time than is healthy presiding over my virtual village.

Hopefully, the impending arrival of a new computer, the coming of spring and all the happenings that entails, and the realization that virtual dinosaurs have nothing on the real ones, will help me break out of this addiction and get back to other more important things… like saving Hyrule.

Do you have any interesting or obscure collections? What is your weakness? Have you ever felt guilty about neglecting certain video game worlds in favour of other ones?

*So how did I manage this blog post? Sorry but that will have to remain a secret… buried deeper than the dinosaur fossils themselves. Join me in wishing my newly ordered computer safe travels!

Related Links:

The Great Chopper Travel Log – The JWs Do Japan (My Chopper Collection)

The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window… And Disappeared (The novel I read in one day, highly recommend!)