People have flocked to the virtual world that exists within Animal Crossing, and while its popularity began prior to the pandemic it has only increased since social/physical distancing measures have been put into place. The NYT has called it the game of the Coronavirus moment, and while Animal Crossing: New Horizons is only available to play on the Nintendo Switch, other versions exist for other devices, such as Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.
I’ve not personally played the game, but I have read articles that suggest that its influence on mobile and gaming culture is significant and perhaps moreso than recent phenomenons of Pokémon Go and Fortnite because of what’s happening in the game that reflects culture and society: Animal Crossing has removed gender by giving players the option to customize their players however they want and for NPCs to treat player characters as ungendered, how Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (NY-Dem) visited her Twitter followers in game, and various organizations have gathered to protest or be involved in activism on the platform. However we feel about games and the role they play in culture and society, something interesting is happening here, and I’ll be paying attention.
Animal Crossing as mobile culture phenomenon
4 responses to “Animal Crossing as mobile culture phenomenon”
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Mel,
I really enjoyed this post, as well as your A1 post on Mobile Activism. I think the role of social media and games in activism and politics is extremely interesting.
However, it seems that while social media and interactive games could be an excellent platform for activism and campaigning, that Animal Crossing seems to be wanting to limit this. For example, an article from October 2018 (first link below) explains how Joe Biden’s campaign team created an island Dream Code that Animal Crossing: New Horizon (ACHN) users could go visit. However, a month later in November (second link), Nintendo published new game rules for Animal Crossing: New Horizons prohibiting users from bringing politics into the game. While I understand many people use social media and games like ACNH as an escape from day-to-day stresses and a way to interact with friends, I think to limit or ban its potential role in campaign strategies and activism is narrow-minded since an individual would have to purposefully visit the that island’s Dream Code to interact with the politicized content.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/18/business/biden-animal-crossing-island-trnd/index.html
https://nypost.com/2020/11/19/joe-biden-banned-from-animal-crossing-for-bringing-politics-into-game/
This got me thinking about how the importance of mobile games in our culture has grown over the course of the pandemic. With many people experiencing lockdowns or restrictions to their activity, socializing has become, out of necessity, a virtual, mobile experience. For many, this involves playing mobile games like Animal Crossing, and many others, and interacting with people playing the game with them. This has been particularly important for many teens and tweens who have been forced into at-home learning, with gaming often being the best way they can “hang out” with their friends.
The issue of accessibility that Pei brought up is such an important one in mobile gaming, so that this avenue of socialization is available to all. It’s encouraging to learn that users and builders are looking into this and continuing to work towards increased accessibility.
Thanks Mel for sharing. That was a really interesting read, including the articles your shared. I did not know that there are these large of political movements taking place within a entertainment video game. I suppose these ‘sandbox’ style games are proving to be an avenue for expression.
I followed the links through the articles and large organizations such as PETA are even taking a stance against animal cruelty within Animal Crossing: https://www.peta.org/features/animal-crossing-new-horizons-vegan/
Hi Mel,
Animal Crossing certainly provides a sense of community for the players and it can be used as a way to raise awareness of social issues as you mentioned. I came across this post on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/AnimalCrossing/comments/gt2s9a/sign_and_note_for_visually_impaired_players_more/) yesterday about how a user helped build a sign for her aunt, who is visually impaired on her island so visitors to her aunt’s island would know how to approach her aunt’s character before engage in conversation. This Reddit post generates quite a conversation as people start to discuss other tools to make games more accessible. For instance, some users suggested downloading the app of Nintendo Switch Online so her aunt would be able to talk to other plays in real time. Other users start to ask questions about what would be some of the things that can be improved to make video games more accessible for all people. This is always a welcoming start when people start to look into how to make an environment more inclusive for everyone and AC provides a platform to open up the dialogues.