Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have taken to Twitter to commemorate the anniversary of the tragic event of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the latest addition to the Animal Crossing series and is a life simulation video game developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch console. The game places players on a deserted island and gives them the freedom to customize both their character and the environment of the island.
The game is praised for its innovations to customize and new mechanics, becoming the best selling game in the Animal Crossing series selling 13 million copies just six weeks after launch. A lot of players have been using it as a sort of "escape from reality" with everything going on, but one Twitter user, in particular, is using the game's newfound popularity to address the significant issues within their government.
A Twitter user by the name of Rachel Cheung, a culture reporter from Hong Kong, shared pictures on June 4th, 31 years after the tragic incident, of Animal Crossing players from Hong Kong coming together in unity to hold a digital vigil. The Tiananmen Square massacre took place on June 4th, 1989, when the government of Hong Kong ordered martial law and sent the military to attack protestors in the central parts of Bejing, killing hundreds if not thousands of civilians.
Players customized their islands and their characters to recreate some famous historical pictures that took place during the protests. Two of the historical photographs recreated are the image of the student riding on a bike to the rally, and the "Tank Man" picture of a man standing in the road to stop a line of tanks.
It's incredible that Animal Crossing players can still come together to commemorate this dark time in history, even if it's hard to be physically together right now. The image of Tank Man is known worldwide and is considered one of the most famous pictures of all time. However, that image is still a victim of heavy censorship within China, so it's good for these players to find a creative way to speak up against injustice.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now for Nintendo Switch.