The Paradox of Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Advertisement as an Escapist Media

Background:

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH)is the latest entry of Nintendo’s Animal Crossing franchise, a Japanese life-simulation game series that first launched in 2001 under its localized name Dobotsu no Mori. Published for physical and digital purchase on March 20, 2020, the game sold approximately 11.77 million copies worldwide within only 12 days of its release, outselling the lifetime sales of earlier titles in the franchise like Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2012) and Animal Crossing: Wild World (2005).

ACNH’s story begins with you and a pair of anthropomorphic animals sailing away to an island as part of Nook Inc.’s aptly-named “Deserted Island Getaway Package”. After arriving and taking charge of the island’s settling procedures, you are eventually promoted to the position of “Resident Representative”, where you are now responsible for beautifying the island to raise its ranking and attract the attention of more travelers. Although the game continues indefinitely, the plot “concludes” once your island is popular enough to convince famed musician K.K. Slider into visiting and performing a concert for you and the villagers.

Compared to earlier titles, many have attributed this game’s success to its coincidental release in the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. With the world under lockdown, many have turned to this title as a distraction tool, hoping to find some solace away from their newfound pressures. As we will soon discuss in-depth, players have turned to this game due to its inclusion of real-time progression, customization features and lack of consequences, all of which allow the player to uniquely personalize their gameplay experience and be able to enjoy the title without any sort of additional pressure.

Argument:

While many players and scholars attribute the game’s (and the franchise’s as a whole) popularity to its escapist elements, the labor-intensive game mechanics within ACNH seem to contradict the supposed relaxation the player is meant to be experiencing. For instance, even though the player is technically vacationing on their island getaway trip, you eventually end up being “hired” (though without a paycheck) by Tom Nook to help transform the island from a deserted, weed-ridden area to a beautiful, bustling tourist spot. Aside from this responsibility, as you gradually expand your home, you must also pay a series of home loans, all of which sum up to a grand total of 5,696,000 Bells! In addition, despite the non-playable characters’ (NPCs) tendency to use “we” in their discussion of island contributions, the majority of the work falls on your shoulders alone. With a newfound job and home-loans to pay, how exactly is this supposed to be an escape if it’s an echo of your stressful, real-life responsibilities?

Despite this contradiction, further analysis of the game’s features seems to cement ACNH’s title as an escapist media, while simultaneously also turning it into the player’s idealized world. For example:

• The game changes its landscape visually every season depending on whether you live in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, giving the player the chance to play within an environment familiar to them and echoing that of their own real-life.
• The Pro Designs application, which lets you design your own clothing and artwork and be able to share these designs online with other players. Although the development of these designs has no influence on your island’s development, players are still drawn to this feature because it gives them a chance to socially exchange with other players and be able to display and receive recognition for the in-game efforts.
• By being able to customize the island itself, the island tune, the island flag, and the island name without any sort of input by the other villagers, the player is given the chance to freely express themselves without any sort of judgement.
• The lack of consequences when it comes to loan-paying (no interest accrued) as well as mission completion (no time-limits) allows players to play (or work) comfortably at their own pace, and yet still receive the same amount of praise from the villagers – something that can’t be guaranteed in real-life where efficiency is heavily strived upon.

Therefore, while at first glance, the game’s “escapist” title seems rather contradictory, close study of its game mechanics serves to fully establish this description. Though given these work-intensive features, describing ACNH as a purely escapist source would reveal only half of the game’s themes. Instead, it can be described as both escapist and a “pseudo” return to normalcy. While the gameplay mechanics are labor-intensive, the inclusion of personalization features and the flexibility that comes with task completion grants players both a nostalgic reminder of their eventful life before the pandemic but also a medium through which they can freely act and express themselves without any sort of social or financial repercussions.

Potential Contributions:

Given that there is very little scholarship on ACNH itself (since it is only two months old), I’m hoping my research will serve of use to other individuals interested in studying this title.

In addition, unlike other sources related to the Animal Crossing games, my research puts a heavy emphasis on the discussion of the game’s Pro Designs feature and its online sharing capabilities, a mechanic known in the gaming community as user-generated content (or UGC). While some scholars critique the development of UGC as a “unpaid second job” – given that it enhances the gameplay experience of other players of which the game developers are supposed to be solely responsible for – my research instead describes UGC in less negative terms, arguing that UGC gives players the opportunity to develop their skills (particularly in design) and be able to feel a sense of achievement from their efforts through the repeated download and use of their creations. With players under lockdown and many losing their jobs, the development of UGC becomes a medium through which they can still work hard and receive recognition for their efforts.

Why is it Interesting?

As someone who’s been playing the game since launch day (with over 135 hours accrued), I was interested in pursuing this research topic because I wanted to analyze what features have greatly contributed to the game’s explosive popularity, as well as to answer whether our current circumstances could also be cited as an influence.

In addition to my interest in the game, my decision to study ACNH was largely based on my desire to challenge myself, since I had never before had the opportunity to analyze this media type before. Seeing as how I’ve only been analyzing books, films, articles, and plays for most of my time in school, I was interested in seeing whether video games could also be subject to the same scholarly scrutiny as these other types of media. As aforementioned, while it was difficult to find secondary sources specifically related to the Animal Crossing franchise, it was nonetheless surprising for me to see the vast range of video game-related scholarship available online. As someone who has always faced judgement for my passion for video games, it was a bit comforting to see so many professionals studying and writing scholarly papers related to their findings with this media type.

In relation to our theme of Animal/Culture, this is an interesting source to study due to its inclusion of anthropomorphized animals and their interactions with the human player. It is interesting to note that the player is the only canonical human character within the game’s story. With over 480 villagers total and 35 different species, it’s no surprise that the player might feel a sense of loneliness within their in-game environment. To add, this loneliness might seem further exacerbated through their promotion to Resident Representative, as it now seemingly puts them in a position of authority over the animals. But in spite of this newfound “power”, it is interesting to see that the animal villagers still treat the player positively and continue to regard them as an equal. As time passes, my hope is that more scholars will begin to study and discuss the significance of the human-animal equality portrayed within the game. Since my secondary sources were mostly concerned with the game’s customization and work-related features, it’d be refreshing to see further discussion of the game’s social aspects.

In conclusion, I highly recommend you check out this source however possible, whether it be through the viewing of YouTube playthroughs or by actually purchasing the game. As someone who was skeptical of finding enjoyment in such a casual game, my time playing ACNH has been nothing but pure relief and enjoyment, making me wish I had given this franchise a chance much earlier in my life.