If you’re Millennial or Gen-Z, or a parent to someone who is, you may know of an aardvark with glasses named Arthur (and I only know how to spell aardvark because it was a part of the spelling bee in one of the episodes). The show addressed issues of sibling rivalry, night terrors, classism, feelings of regret, and a whole host of other things that people face every day. My friend and I discussed it a few years ago and we wondered if it would have been the same if the characters were human children instead of aardvarks, bulldogs, bunnies, and rats. We agreed the show wouldn’t be the same if the children were people.
Consider Stardew Valley vs Animal Crossing. Do the animals add to the charm of Animal Crossing? They seem to have very different audiences and the question remains: is it the species of the characters that makes a difference?
games
Spiral Slides are for Suckers
I recently picked up Parkitect with my good friend, Realeo, what also has a couple of posts here. The game is everything you want from a park simulator with the thing you didn’t know you did: multiplayer. Building alongside a person-person who is just as clueless as you are about how things work is a joy. It also works well as a quiet group activity at times when your both sweating through figuring out how to finish a ride or why people are not buying your bubble tea. I recently got into diving into the numbers, clicking on each ride and looking at the statistics, and this has led me to a discovery. Spiral Slides are for suckers.
Spiral slides are these cool lighthouse looking rides, where a visitor queues up for the chance to climb to the top and slide down in a spiral to much pixelated joy. But this is no happy lighthouse as it appears. It is a sad lighthouse. It is Nickel Creeks’s Lighthouse. The only thing being dashed against the rocks here though are profits.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Fauns in Peril
The colorful landscape of Galen and the fauns that fill it brought me joy at first sight. Reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and visiting Ohio has instilled an instinctual desire in me to want to make friends with all fauns.
Sadly, the fauns until this point had not seemed keen on the idea. They dance, but never extended an invitation. In fact, they were downright hostile. I doubted I would ever meet a faun friend, but then I found two striking individuals.