According to the most recent reports from John Hopkins University, 300,000 thousand COVID-19 related deaths have been confirmed, and friends and family have been forced to figure out how to memorialze their loved ones. In a time when funerals are limited due to social distancing rules, some people have been turning to Nintendo's "Animal Crossing," a social simulation video game series, as a way to process their loss.
Tech writer Andy Ihnatko spoke to Boston Public Radio on Friday about "Animal Crossing" becoming a platform for death positivity and grieving.
"This is really genuinely beautiful, because a lot of people now can't go through their usual death and grief rituals when they lose a friend or relative, and so a lot of people are turning to Animal Crossing," he said. "They're creating memorials, grave sites, and ways that they can work through their own grief and provide areas where they and their friends can get together and honor this person they love."
It could be easy to poke fun at people processing their grief on a video game, Ihnatko said.
"But it underscores the fact that these games, and even social media, aren't an escape from reality and society, they're actually a part of our reality and society," he said. "By honoring and doing our memorials, by incorporating these new elements of our lives, really is part of how we process everything now."
