Animal crossing and aspergers

[The friendcode exchanger]

Since september of 2014 I have been playing animal crossing new leaf in my town of Pallet named after pallet town in the pokemon series.

I had heard of the series beforehand but then when I went on the nintendo 3ds eshop I just fell in love with the game after seeing a trailer and I convinced my dad to buy this game.

From a young age I was diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome which is a mild form of autism and I have had problems with things like loud sounds and learning difficulties in things such as school.

I eventually read about this game series online and apparently this game series was created for people like me who share these difficulties in life.

Just the thought of losing my town with close to 5 years of progress makes me uneasy and one time it almost happened when I screwed it up using a save editor and to my horror I accidentally corrupted my game.

But luckily I had a backup saved on my pc and I was able to get my town back without any errors to my great relief
and I felt these intense emotions inside of me over getting my town back which I rarely feel otherwise.

I can also feel these same types of emotions after not playing this game for a long time then coming back to the town and seeing that one of your original villagers are still there mine are Flora and Maple.

But it feels devastating when one of your dreamies move away and only finding out about it after coming back after possibly months for example Beau,Biskit,or Scoot.

Some of my favorite things to do in my town include making a garden of beautiful paths along with tons of flowers mostly consisting of roses in the colours blue,pink,purple, .

I have even started making a house dedicated to the anime/manga called One piece and the character will be dressed up as Luffy with the dream phrase "king of the pirates" .

I spent 4 months of my life catching up to the anime and man was it worth the 800 + episodes I had to watch to catch up on the anime.

As a game animal crossing new leaf has helped me through high school by reducing my stress and after the first 4 months of high school where I developed a depression and tried to kill myself by hanging.
I later got out of it myself by telling my mom about it and afterwards it felt like a heavy cloud had just been lifted from me and I was getting happier again.

This game helped me recover from it afterwards and I could not have been more thankful for it.

Are there are any other aspies here besides me that play this game or other games in the series who have had similair experiences with this game series?.

 

[dumplen]

I am so glad you found an outlet that works for you!

I do not have Aspergers, but I appreciate you sharing your story. Animal Crossing is always my go-to when I feel sad, too. It's comforting to have routines and creative freedom. That and the AC community at most times are very understanding and kind-hearted. ♥

 

[DubiousDelphine]

i was diagnosed with the same disorder that you stated when i was young. I cant believe you're so brave!
I found AC:WW when i was young. I never understood how to play that game since i wanted to go out where booker and cooper is.
I gave up that game for years. pocket camp came out, i played that game at least once per day. Now, i cant find my ipad anymore...
I found ACNL and decided to emulate it on my laptop to try it out. Rosie was one of my starter townies and i loved her from pocket camp.

When i get bored, i would go on my 3 emulated towns on my laptop.
When i do feel sad, Rosie will always cheer me up! she was with me for a year and then she left, i miss her still....
She gave me a chocolate heart for valentines day this year. I have kept it in my save mail area.

Rosie is in one of my other towns though. i kicked her in with her amiibo card
two of my town name is based of an anime. One of the villagers has the same japanese name as one of the characters in the anime so i invited him in using his amiibo card.
I still do feel quite crap for the most of the time. Rosie is there to cheer me up!

 

[dasheranne]

Both my mother and one of my therapists believe I might be mildly autistic, but I haven't gone to be diagnosed yet. I have been diagnosed with PTSD though, and I agree that this game has done a lot for me!

Wild World was essentially my social life through out middle school because I didn't fit in, and I definitely hyperfixated on it. New Leaf helped me out a lot in high school when I was being overwhelmed by depression and anxiety, which I didn't know was caused by my trauma at the time. It was a nice safe place to return to where no one doubted me.

Animal crossing games have also helped me a lot with LGBT+ things. I could write coming out messages on the town board and no one there would judge me!

My town is named Borders because the Borders bookstore I liked going to as a kid closed down. Now the name is a tradition! I like lazy villagers the most, and I'm glad that Biskit is in my town. He's one of my favorites! He always makes me smile.