馃攳
Investigating Tom Nook's predatory lending practices in Animal Crossing - YouTube
Channel: Polygon
[0]
every time someone mentions Tom Nook the
[2]
shop owner slash landlord and the Animal
[4]
Crossing series an argument comes up is
[7]
he a small fuzzy capitalist
[9]
manifestation of pure evil or you know
[12]
not that Nick made such an impression in
[15]
the first animal crossing that he
[16]
consistently appears on best villain
[18]
lists alongside mass murderers like
[21]
Sephiroth and Ganondorf but some fans
[24]
have a counter-argument Tom Nook sells a
[27]
house to you a total stranger without
[29]
even doing a credit check he gives you a
[32]
mortgage with no interest his own
[35]
creators insist that he is a great guy
[38]
but is he today we're going to examine
[42]
the evidence and judge Tom Nook once and
[45]
for all
[45]
Animal Crossing came out in Japan in
[48]
2001 for the n64 and a year later in the
[51]
US for the Gamecube we start out train
[54]
to our new town and immediately meet a
[56]
nucleus named a Rover Rover is appalled
[60]
because we have nowhere to live and no
[63]
plans so he excuses himself to phone up
[67]
Tom Nook but we hear everything
[70]
that's right Rover everything once we
[74]
roll into town Tom Nook takes us to his
[76]
housing development full of what
[77]
appeared to be medieval dungeons haha
[80]
once we choose one of these torture
[82]
chambers Tom Nook reveals that we now
[84]
owe him 19800 bells including fees and
[88]
closing costs none of this was mentioned
[90]
up front
[98]
this is CEO Weaver part of the housing
[101]
justice for all coalition which
[103]
advocates for tenants in the state of
[104]
New York yes I called an actual housing
[107]
advocate to ask about my terrible
[109]
landlord by which I definitely mean Tom
[111]
Nook at the start of the game the player
[113]
only has 1,000 bells and Nook
[117]
immediately relieves us of the burden of
[119]
having that money as for the remaining
[121]
balance we'll have to pay that back
[123]
overtime and Nook doesn't say when we
[127]
have to pay him back except in this
[129]
terrifying joke haha this experience in
[132]
a nutshell
[133]
is why people hate Tom Nook suddenly
[136]
you're in debt and if you've never
[138]
played Animal Crossing before you have
[140]
no idea of what one bail is worth or how
[143]
hard money is going to be to earn it's
[145]
not hard this is a bad reputation nuke
[147]
will never overcome but in the grand
[150]
scheme of things
[151]
20,000 bells isn't all that much a
[153]
modern bed and Animal Crossing is 2,000
[156]
bells so a house is just 10 bets which
[159]
gets it why some people say that Tom
[161]
Nook is doing us a favor a cheap house
[164]
with no pressure to pay it off the man
[166]
is basically a saint except that he
[169]
immediately exploits that debt makes you
[171]
do a bunch of menial tasks withholds
[174]
your first paycheck and then lays you
[176]
off when he runs out of stuff for you to
[178]
do in Ag Animal Crossing Tom Nook is
[180]
clearly established through his dialogue
[182]
and his actions as a hilariously
[185]
predatory hard-ass whose deeds cry out
[188]
for a strong Union response and the
[191]
thing is I wouldn't have it any other
[193]
way because it is funny no matter what
[196]
you do Tom Nook is making you squirm
[199]
while he gets you with another loan it's
[201]
like adding a spritz of lemon to a sweet
[204]
treat it's part of the flavor of Animal
[206]
Crossing and it's delicious until you
[211]
eat that cake for three meals aka in the
[213]
next two games which I'm going to brush
[215]
over because I cannot stress enough they
[217]
are exactly the same but a new leaf
[220]
Nintendo really started trying to pull
[222]
the wool sweater vest over our eyes it
[225]
began what I'm calling the nice inning
[227]
of Animal Crossing a more precious paint
[229]
job or for the foul economy it created
[232]
the animals all used to be a tad more
[234]
brisk Nick called us lately all the time
[238]
the snooty animals were really quite
[240]
rude and mr. Resetti screamed and called
[243]
us names if we quit without saving maybe
[246]
the most blatant sign of the nice inning
[248]
is the introduction of Isabel your
[250]
secretary why do you have a secretary
[253]
well you're the goddamn mayor now Isabel
[255]
is so sweet she takes her coffee with
[257]
three spoonfuls of sugar and she would
[260]
never dream of being mean to you how
[262]
does Tom Nook fare under the nice inning
[264]
well he's still got the town
[267]
a real-estate stranglehold that does not
[269]
change but he's not as snide as he used
[272]
to be and honestly just seems happy to
[274]
be paid at all he also doesn't pull a
[276]
hire and fire on you because you're the
[278]
mayor now so yay New Horizons is if
[283]
anything even nicer than new leaf look
[287]
for his part is extraordinarily genial
[290]
in stark contrast to his earliest
[293]
appearances he appreciates you so much
[297]
the economy is diseased arguably even
[299]
more so with the introduction of Nook
[302]
miles a fake currency that you don't
[304]
need except to pay off your tent in the
[307]
beginning of the game except I also
[308]
don't need to put a lighthouse on my
[310]
Island but if you think I'm going to let
[312]
ship simply break upon my rocky shores
[314]
you don't know me at all which brings me
[317]
to what's actually changed the most
[318]
about Animal Crossing it's not just Tom
[321]
nooks attitude it's the players buy-in
[324]
and what I mean by that is the reason
[326]
we're embarking on this whole adventure
[328]
in the first place we go from being a
[331]
financially irresponsible free spirits
[333]
to a mistaken mayor to someone who
[337]
ostensibly willingly buys a ticket to a
[340]
deserted island to build a home there in
[342]
the early days we need to be suckered
[344]
into this system like a dingus but as
[347]
the series matures Tom Nook doesn't drag
[350]
us in kicking and screaming we want to
[353]
escape with him and in this new system
[356]
that we opted into where nook
[358]
appreciates us so much is he still
[361]
exploiting us absolutely want stares you
[366]
pay for that want more residents on the
[369]
island you pay for their housing plots
[371]
Tom Nook gets the money when they buy a
[373]
house and you get a miniscule cut in his
[376]
fake airline currency that one is
[379]
actually egregious
[381]
major employer is also the major
[383]
landlord you are going to be in a
[386]
position of being exploited constantly
[388]
it's not freedom you're just crack
[389]
you're just everything isn't operating
[391]
then like this weird world great he's
[392]
making all the money in a just world
[394]
nuke would never be in a position where
[396]
he controls your access to information
[398]
to housing and to the means to earn a
[401]
living actually we are fighting for a
[403]
better world where you don't get stuck
[405]
in these scenarios and just because it
[407]
exists doesn't mean that it's good nuke
[409]
is a bad guy and that's why he's perfect
[412]
for Animal Crossing
[413]
we need that tension and that friction
[416]
in this otherwise perfect candy-colored
[419]
world and that's why even though
[420]
Nintendo seems determined to convince
[423]
this thing he's not a bad guy most
[425]
people don't want to be convinced
[427]
once canceled always canceled you
[429]
remember that Tom Nook that being said
[431]
it would be irresponsible of me to let
[433]
him completely off the hook so if you're
[437]
struggling with this bad landlord or any
[439]
bad landlord SIA has some advice the
[443]
most important thing you can do is find
[445]
a way to talk to your neighbors even
[446]
though that's a hard thing to do right
[447]
now so maybe setting up a whatsapp group
[450]
for your building or just finding some
[451]
way to communicate and build build a
[455]
community where you live is gonna be
[456]
really important if we're in a sustained
[458]
period of being unable to pay for it
[460]
[Music]
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage