As a veteran Animal Crossing player, I was ecstatic to pick up New Leaf. I can say this is definitely the best Animal Crossing yet, and I've spent countless hours mining the depths of its content. At the same time, I've also contemplated the game’s economy, and I've come to some shocking conclusions. What I'm about to say may disgust some of you, even cause some of you to recoil in horror at the veritable truth of these claims. But soldier on, dear villagers, because the truth must be told.

Let's set the scene: Tom Nook has taken to doing real estate full-time, and opened his own office to handle all his building and home loans. His nephews, Timmy and Tommy, have been left to take care of the family business of selling tools and furniture at the aptly renamed Nookling Junction. Both Nook businesses have been moved to the city, which is across the tracks from the town itself, meaning that the Nooks are blind to the everyday activities of the villagers. They've built their ivory tower where they sit dishing out home loans and tools to keep us toiling—unaware of what's really going on.

A new shop (in fact, the only shop) in the town is Re-Tail, a second-hand shop that (after some effort on the player's part) also specializes in working on furniture. Oddly enough, Re-Tail doesn't take a cut on any items sold second-hand, so the question must be asked: how are they still in business?

In the beginning parts of the game, Cyrus, the furniture expert, is constantly sleeping due to, as Reese puts it, "working all night." Well, doing what exactly? Here's where it gets horrible: he is clearly making all the furniture for Nookling Junction. If Cyrus is a furniture expert, then I could simply go and ask for the specific piece of furniture that I need, but that would put a damper on Nook's business of selling a paltry (and random) two pieces of furniture a day. It's obvious what's going on here.

Cyrus is Nook's supplier, which means Nook has a huge stock of furniture that he dishes out piecemeal to create demand from villagers. This just raises more questions, like why doesn't Cyrus simply turn Re-Tail into a furniture business and give villagers what they want on order instead of funneling it all through Nook's? Nookling Junction is all the way in the city, it would be more beneficial to the town and to Cyrus and Reese if they simply turned their second-hand shop into an on-demand furniture store.

So what's really going on here? Reese and Cyrus obviously owe Nook something, and they're being strong-armed into providing his furniture stock. As we discussed, Nook is in real estate. Reese and Cyrus are in deep for the loan they took out to open Re-Tail, and Nook is squeezing every last bell out of them. Imagine, two young lovers with a passion for furniture looking to open shop in a small town and make whatever their customers desire! A kind old real estate tycoon steps in to help make their dream a reality, but everything goes wrong.

Suddenly Nook begins demanding higher payments because of some sort of loophole in their loan contract. The only way they can pay him back is to begin making furniture for him and selling second-hand items on the side. But Reese and Cyrus have a plan. They'll resell items, and make no profit themselves. This makes second-hand sales something anyone can break into, no matter how poor. Now villagers can deal with one another directly instead of fueling the Nook Empire.

Once Cyrus trusts the villagers, he begins undercutting Nook's business further by offering to refurbish furniture directly. That trust can eventually lead to unrest, and maybe one day a revolt against the strong-arm business tactics of the Nooks. “Nook’s stranglehold on our town has gone too far,” he’ll cry, “and it's time we do something about it.” Yet even the town's mayor, Tortimer was forced into retirement to make room for a new puppet mayor who could be kept in check, firmly under Tom Nook's thumb.

You may fight to scrounge up enough fish and bugs to pay off your loan, but the very fish you pull out of the sea are all a part of Nook’s plan. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a single villager eat a fish. Not once. So where do they go? Consider this: what would a real estate agent or his repressed storeowners need fish for? Nothing. They are dumped directly back into the ocean to be fished back out and traded for bells so you can pay off your home loan, and once that’s done what does Nook tell you: “Great job paying off that loan! But, don’t you think your house is a little small? How about an expansion…”

Then the next day your humble housing representative tells you that your expansion is complete…and it will cost twice as much as last time. This cycle continues, and by the time villagers catch on to it they’re so deep in Nook’s pocket that even an entire inventory of Coelacanths won’t save you.

Though Nook rose from humble beginnings, he has become a giant that will gladly crush us all beneath his heel. So, dear villagers, I implore you: do not shop at Nook’s furniture emporium of deceit! Deal directly with your fellow villagers and maybe one day in the future our children won't have to fish from morning to night just to break even. Maybe one day we can build furniture of our own...¡Viva la Revolución!