Animal Crossing Ethnography: Using Online Games to Stay Socially Connected While Maintaining Physical Distance
A CASE STUDY OF ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS
ABOUT
The world is feeling the oppressive social effects of the pandemic and each member of our research group is a gamer, be they casual or regular. Our generation shows its creativity in novel ways of coming together regardless of circumstances, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons (hereafter AC:NH or Animal Crossing) is an excellent example of how this attitude manifests. It is remarkable to see people using video games to stay connected. AC:NH is exemplifying how digital cultures are necessary to society and the potential contributions to the community.
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Video game researchers are examining how culture is shaped within the virtual world and its impact on players in the physical world. AC:NH was released on 20 March 2020 in the early stages of the pandemic reaching America, and gave players an outlet to say in touch. Games akin to Animal Crossing serve as social networking platforms for communities and adds to the social aspect of gaming. Additionally, in the context of the pandemic, AC:NH is providing comfort for people affected by physical distancing. 50 years ago, Gregory Bateson asked "What is play?"; in 2018, T.L. Taylor wrote the book "Watch Me Play". Presently, we aspire to contribute in this field even a modicum in comparison to them.
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OUR RESEARCH
We are interested in how Animal Crossing: New Horizons impacts people's interactions and behaviors. Our goal is to 1) identify and characterize how AC:NH affects people's mental health, ranging from stress to maintaining connections with friends and families, and 2) investigate how the discourse of video games changes during times of crisis, in terms of society's perception of video games in the role of mental health and social networking. We want to answer questions such as "Is AC: NH enabling real human interaction online?" We argue Animal Crossing: New Horizons is changing how people connect and form relationships by improving interpersonal relationships and providing an outlet for people to establish and uphold communities. It is an example of how virtual worlds can be a rich space for a myriad of experiences, and can effectively substitute for some forms of interaction in the physical world when circumstances disallow normal contact.
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GROUPS
Our group initially focused on surveying UC Irvine students who play Animal Crossing: New Horizons (AC:NH), then included family and friends. As such, our demographic scope quickly widened; in the end, only around half of respondents were ages 18-22. We want to know how video games are helping people cope with the stresses of living under COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, so we decided to focus on a wider demographic than just our peers who play AC:NH.
METHODS
To further our research, we conducted 6 interviews and had 66 survey respondents. We created a Google Survey, https://forms.gle/5G8FTyyxQvYXgn9M9 , and sent it to friends and Facebook groups. Then, members of our group specially selected volunteers for a follow up interview. We asked questions ranging from nationality to hours of game play. Individual interviews were conducted on Zoom.
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COMMUNITY BUILDING IN AC:NH
Video games, particularly multiplayer games, are often able to expand and maintain communities. Games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons—with its friendly environment and the ability to trade—inspire large demographics from all over the world to form communities. Players can not only share cloth patterns, floor patterns, and designs, but also trade items with each other. This is mutually desirable so that each player can collect things they need that they might not get by ways outside of trading. This unique system builds communities that disregard age, gender, sexuality and skin color, which in turn pulls new players in for its inclusivity.
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In a research paper done by the University of Jyvaeskylae, the author believes that “Social interaction between members of multiplayer communities shares similarities to interaction in face-to-face groups. Shared values and goals are the basis on which a shared understanding and a sense of community are built on.” (University of Jyvaeskylae. 2007. “How Does Online Gaming Affect Social Interactions?.”) This statement is especially true in a time like this, with a pandemic sweeping the Earth, when people are forced to stay in their home to socially and physically distant themselves. Without means of physically playing the game together, people have resorted to online social media. In the survey our group has conducted, there are more than 90% of people who admitted that they will interact with AC:NH in ways other than physically playing it.
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Platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, Facebook and Reddit all serve their own purposes for these players. Approximately 25% of respondents say that they use these social media for community purposes, such as interacting and chatting with other people who also play AC:NH. 36% of people indicate that they use these websites for entertainment, where they can draw, write and share stories and illustrations of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Some also watch streamers play AC:NH on either Twitch or YouTube. One of our survey respondents so happens to stream AC:NH on Twitch themselves. We see that 32% of those surveyed use these platforms to watch and read about How-to’s, tricks and shortcuts for AC:NH. Thus, learning and teaching are also a crucial part of a community, especially in one that involves building and finance.
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AC:NH allows people to visit each other on the same wireless network or through the Internet. It is also well known and praised for its wide range of customization ability, where players can draw and design their own clothes, paintings and patterns. Players can share codes linking to these designs, so that other players who might not have good art skills are able to obtain these designs. Players can also sell these designs in-game for game currency, making it easier for artists to “pay off their debt” in game to faster progress building their island. 87.9% of survey takers admits that they feel appreciative of the customization ability that AC:NH offers.
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An effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is increased physical isolation, which brings people to games that can fulfill social needs. This is strongly exhibited not only by pre-existing AC players, but also previous non-AC players. 16.7% of respondents didn’t play games on a daily basis at all before the pandemic. More than 84% of the people admits that they play more games after the pandemic, ranging from 1 hour to 4 hours more. A serendipitous coincidence is that Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released on March 20th, right before the pandemic shut-in everyone. It is a perfect game at the perfect time for everyone affected by quarantine or social distancing.
DIGITAL SPACES &Â VIRTUAL WORLDS
Video games with persistent worlds and multiplayer capabilities allow the formation of each player's own unique digital space that can be interconnected for people to hangout, express themselves, and interact both socially or with the manifold parts of the game.
They abound with innumerable opportunities for creative expression and engaging cooperatively, some of which are repeatable daily for rewards.
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COOPERATIVE (CO-OP) ACTIVITIES
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In Animal Crossing, players can trade resources with one another, but the option to take it a step further and communicate whose island has the best prices for a given resource can allow stock market day trading-style swarms—yet another layer of communication and cooperation. Economic and sociological relationships exist as well. Each island will have different prices for the sale of certain virtual goods (e.g., turnips, or fruit), and by communicating directly or in groups over social media or group messages (e.g., Facebook, Discord), friends can help one another maximize their revenue by selling to the highest paying non-player character (i.e., the interactive characters in the video game not being controlled by any players).
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A paid subscription to Nintendo Online is required to be able to connect to other islands and conduct the aforementioned activities. This costs no more than $3.99 a month, which is generally very affordable to the masses if they could pay $60 for the game and hundreds of dollars for the console. Invested (by paying for the game and the monthly fee, possibly the Switch too if they bought it just to play this) as players are, it behooves the developers to create downloadable content and patches that update the game to reflect the needs and wants of the players. And the developers have incoming monthly revenue to pay for these changes, so everyone wins. Almost prophetically, though the gaming technology 12 years ago was far different, speaking more strongly to his point, “The essential lesson that we have abstracted from our experiences with Habitat is that a cyberspace is defined more by the interactions among the actors within it than by the technology with which it is implemented (Morningstar 2008, 2).”
VIRTUAL WORLDS, VIRTUAL REALITY,
THE PHYSICAL VS. THE DIGITAL
While not in the same genre of massively multiplayer online roleplaying games, Animal Crossing shares at least one key trait: its worlds are persistent. From one perspective, once one's Nintendo Switch is turned off, the world ceases to exist, but from another perspective, their island is merely closed off to visitors temporarily. Proof of its persistence exists in the consequences of neglect. Neglecting the game causes the island itself to show the lack of care: weeds grow, seasons change, villagers build new things on their own, or even move away for good.
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What is "real", really? One subject we interviewed, Kaelena (of KaelenaTV on Twitch.tv), has a family member who is undergoing regular chemotherapy treatments for cancer. Being severely immunocompromised, they are unable to have their weekly in-person visits ever since the COVID-19 lockdown began. While they are able to do video calls and enjoy richer communication than mere text can convey, if her mother also played AC:NH there are many additional layers of communication and interaction they would have designing or working on their islands together.
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While one cannot hug in AC:NH specifically, there are different avatar reactions that one can use to express emotion, up to 44 in all (or so it is popularly believed). These in-game reactions may not be physical, but the intent and feelings communicated can be a real emotional connection for those doing them. Another ontological thought, "It flies in the face of the myriad ways that the online is real (if you learn German online, you can speak it in Germany; if you lose money gambling online, you have fewer dollars)." (Boellstorff, 387)
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To examine it in reverse, consider money. Physical cash is real, but the value it represents is abstract. Bells, the digital currency of AC:NH, cannot buy food in the physical world. But people can and have sold a rare and high-demand villager (non-player characters on each island) on the Animal Crossing black market (yes, there is an Animal Crossing black market). If one is lucky enough to randomly generate Raymond the Cat (Hernandez, 2020), he can be sold to someone in real life in exchange for money outside of the game quite easily over eBay to a stranger in the era of Paypal, Venmo and the like.
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Social distancing is more precisely "physical distancing". And if "virtual and real are placed on a zero-sum continuum such that every step from one is a step to the other," (Boellstorff, 387), then perhaps it follows that physical distancing creates social closeness through virtual worlds such as this. Research into video games needs to account for interactions within the game and broader social context (Squire, 2006).
VIDEO GAMES AS SUBSTITUTES FOR PHYSICAL INTERACTION
Before the pandemic, video games were often scorned as illegitimate forms of socialization. However, many have now begun to rely on digital connections to satisfy their need for human interaction given that no alternative is currently possible. This extreme set of circumstances due to physical distancing guidelines has illuminated both the potential and limitations video games possess as modes of communication.
In order to properly examine how AC:NH is being utilized as a mode of communication during the COVID-19 pandemic, we must first explore what communication entails. Dr. Gary Chapman’s research on relationships and differences in personal communication styles is the foundation upon which modern conversation on communication is based. Chapman created the 5 Love Languages system, where communication preferences are categorized into 5 main types: physical touch, words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, and acts of service. Each type of communication shows how the person prefers to give and receive love, whether it be romantic, platonic, or familial (Chapman). Many love languages, like words of affirmation, can easily be enacted without being in the physical presence of the other person. Some, like physical touch and quality time, seemingly require being physically with the other person in order to be felt. This variance in dependency on proximity was especially felt with the changes in daily life due to COVID-19 and physical distancing requirements. According to our survey, 60.6% believed some love languages were disserviced due to the pandemic, along with 25.8% being unsure.
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Since physical interaction has become much more difficult due to the pandemic, people are looking for alternate forms of communication to stay connected with their friends and loved ones. AC:NH became a very convenient tool for many - the game allowed for people who lived far apart to play in the same virtual space and spend time together in some capacity. This can be partially attributed to the parallels of AC:NH and real life, such as the monetary system, cooperative activities, and ability to customize your character. The ability to create your own character is vital to the classification of video games as modes of communication, best articulated by Behrenshausen’s “Touching is Good: An Eidetic Phenomenology of Interface, Interobjectivity, and Interaction in Nintendo's Animal Crossing: Wild World (AC:WW),” in which Behrenshausen stresses “the vital role of the body in converting conscious experience to an experience of consciousness,” (Behrenshausen 2007, 110).
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The pandemic brought along a shift in dependency on video games to uphold connections, but also allowed for rhetoric surrounding video games to shift in tone. Previously, video games were not commonly seen as legitimate forms of genuine communication. In Mardon’s article “Attachment to Digital Virtual Possessions in Videogames,” the author acknowledges the typical “normative pressures against making digital virtual things within video games meaningful (Mardon & Watkins 2012, 14).” This perception is easily seen in first-person shooters (e.g., Call of Duty), where the game has few more layers beyond its narrative. Additionally, in Afifi’s “Nonverbal Communication” the author stresses the importance of nonverbal communication in interactions and how this cannot be completely substituted by verbal communication without sacrificing the heart of the message. Narrative video games have long had “bodies” - avatars are central to storytelling and nearly every game incorporates them. However, the level of real communication possible with these bodies, even in multiplayer games, has been doubted for a long time.
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Given that physical distancing inhibits people spending time together in-person, video games are now the closest our bodies, or extensions of our bodies, can get. AC:NH arrived in the digital universe during a time of unique isolation, and quickly became a way for the physically isolated to be mentally together. From our survey, we found that 56 people felt connected to their family and friends while playing the game together, 14 bonded by teaching their loved ones how to play, and 40 felt connected by sharing their designs with their friends.
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This shows that multiplayer games do have some capability to bring people together. The question is, how much?
The best way to assess how effective AC:NH is to see how well it can accommodate all love languages, as they represent the variety of ways people communicate with one another. From our survey, we determined that AC:NH best serves words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, and receiving gifts love languages, and falls short for physical touch.
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The lack of physical touch game capabilities are definitely due to the limitations of video games - your physical interaction is limited to actions and reactions, but you do not feel these firsthand. Other love languages are able to be satisfied with other aspects of the game, such as conversations with villagers or picking apples with your friend. This goes to show that games like Animal Crossing do have potential to help with some forms of communication, but some forms are unique to human bodies.
CONNECTIVITY
Animal Crossing New Horizons improves relationships within the family because the game presents an opportunity for family interaction. Before COVID-19, most families are too busy with school or work, leaving little room for family time. However, social distancing has forced most families to work at home. AC:NH represents a change in family life because it increases the amount of quality family time and provides comfort in times of uncertainty. A few decades back, Professor Mitchell of Education studied the phenomenon of video games improving family interaction at its peak. Mitchell observed “families enjoying a unique moment of discovery of each other and development of new interpersonal relationships within the family circle” (1985, 135). In the same vein, AC:NH helps families develop new interpersonal relationships because greater interaction, comes greater understanding. Our data reports some participants teach younger siblings how to play AC:NH and that 89% of participants feel that AC:NH helps with connecting with friends and family. In other words, families have more opportunities to reveal a new side of themselves they do not normally show. Furthermore, these interactions are occurring during a crisis, so family bonding has more meaning because it represents how family members can depend on one another in troubled times.
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AC:NH also bridges the generation gap between parents and kids. Mitchell learned that for parents, video games can stir “memories of Monopoly, Checkers, card games” (1985, 134). AC:NH is simple and charming to older generations as well. There is an 88 year old grandmother, Audrey Buchanan, who has played 3500 hours on Animal Crossing New Leaf (Peters 2020). AC:NH can remind parents of simpler times in their childhood and remain easy enough to play with their kids. Furthermore, anthropologist Rea studied how gamers in South Korea incorporate strategies to ‘calibrate’ their game style to reflect the narratives in contemporary Korean society, which translate into “strategies for making do in unsettled circumstances” (508). Some families have already adopted video games as part of their family game nights, but more families are using video games such as AC:NH to connect with one another during times of crisis such as COVID-19. Not only is AC:NH is an example of families 'calibrating' their game styles to fight against the social distancing narrative of COVID-19, but it also extends beyond the household to relatives and friends.
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Animal Crossing: New Horizons offers a chance for family relatives and friends to stay in touch. In the mutual interest of staying in touch, a common activity or video game to discuss makes it easier to stay connected with someone. In his pursuit on how video games allow meaningful experiences with other players, graduate student Behrenshausen conducted several interviews on Animal Crossing: Wild World (AC:WW) players. Behrenshausen discovered how one player’s relationship with his brother-in-law shifted from rarely interacting to calling each other nearly every day about AC:WW (Behrenshausen 2007, 120). The depth of the relationship between the two is up to debate, however, the key point is that a relationship between two people could form from and consist of something simple such as playing the same game. If they wish, people can stay in touch by solely discussing AC:NH and prevent connections from fading due to lack of interaction. Our data reports 14 people using the daily tasks in AC:NH as one way to stay in touch with other friends and family. AC:NH is a casual, fun game to mention among friends among troubled times and sufficient for some to stay in touch.
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Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a venue for people to meet. In times of social distancing, meeting new people in person at work or school is no longer viable. Instead, it is safer to meet people online on social media or discussion boards. Communications Professor Kim conducted a study on how players contradictorily play video games that simulate everyday life to escape their everyday life. Kim observed collaborations between veteran and new players on discussion boards and argued how collaborations between players to generate new content represents a form of corporate management training (2014, 366). Furthermore, in Behrenshausen’s paper, Behrenshausen some online meetings were motivated by a mutual desire to play the game (2007, 111). AC:NH helps form new relationships between players by forming a bond as a mentor and mentee or as colleagues. In our surveys, half of the players participated on discussion boards or interacted on chatrooms. Furthermore, two thirds of players conducted further research to learn tips and ‘how-to’s on playing the game. The data reveals how players are interested in meeting with other players online and forming partnerships to advance themselves within the game, similar to how a corporate ladder. Therefore, Animal Crossing: New Horizons helps fulfill people’s personal desire to succeed and socialize with others.
DATA FROM OUR 19 SURVEY QUESTIONS
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the above ethnography, it is quite apparent that the video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons is shaping people’s lives, especially under the social context of COVID-19. In consideration of the social distancing guidelines, AC: NH offers an alternative approach for video game players to spend time together while avoiding face-to-face interaction. This game enhances online interactions and shapes digital spaces based on community. It also blurs the boundary between the physical world and the virtual worlds of games. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is changing how people socially connect through technology and play.
WORKS CITED
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Afifi, W. A. 2007. Nonverbal Communication. In B. B. Whaley & W. Samter (Eds.), Explaining communication: Contemporary theories and exemplars (p. 39–60). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410614308
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Behrenshausen, B. G. 2007. “Touching is Good: An Eidetic Phenomenology of Interface, Interobjectivity, and Interaction in Nintendo's Animal Crossing: Wild World.” MA thesis, University of Maine. Orono. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/277/
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Boellstorff, Tom. 2016. “For Whom the Ontology Turns Theorizing the Digital Real.” Current Anthropology Volume 57, Number 4. https://doi.org/10.1086/687362
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Chapman, Gary. “5 Love Languages.” The 5 Love Languages®. Moody Publishers, March 16, 2019. https://www.5lovelanguages.com/5-love-languages/
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Hernandez, Patricia. 2020. "Raymond is blowing up the Animal Crossing villager black market." Polygon. Accessed 08 June, 2020. https://www.polygon.com/2020/4/22/21229959/animal-crossing-new-horizons-black-market-villager-trading-raymond-nmt-bells-nintendo-switch-discord
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Jin Kim. 2014. “Interactivity, user-generated content and video game: an ethnographic study of Animal Crossing: Wild World.” Continuum, 28:3, 357-370, DOI: 10.1080/10304312.2014.893984
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Mardon, Rebecca & Watkins, Mike. 2012. “Attachment to Digital Virtual Possessions in Videogames.” Research in Consumer Behavior, 14, 153-171. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0885-2111(2012)0000014012
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Mitchell, E. 1985. “The dynamics of family interaction around home video games.” Marriage and Family Review 8(1-2), 121)-135. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1300/J002v08n01_10
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Morningstar, Chip & Researcher, Independent & Farmer, F. 2008. “The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat.” Journal of Virtual Worlds Research; Vol 1, No 1: Virtual Worlds Research: Past, Present and Future, 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v1i1.287
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Peters, Terri. 2020. “The internet adores this 88-year-old grandma and her love of 'Animal Crossing'.” Today. Accessed 06 June, 2020. https://www.today.com/parents/grandma-loves-playing-nintendo-s-animal-crossing-game-t178182
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Rea, Stephen C. 2018. "Calibrating Play: Sociotemporality in South Korean Digital Gaming Culture." American Anthropologist 120.3: 500-511. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13020Squire, Kurt. 2006. “From Content to Context: Videogames as Designed Experience.” Educational Researcher, vol. 35, no. 8, pp. 19–29. doi:10.3102/0013189X035008019
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Squire, Kurt. 2006. “From Content to Context: Videogames as Designed Experience.” Educational Researcher, vol. 35, no. 8, pp. 19–29. doi:10.3102/0013189X035008019
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University of Jyvaeskylae. 2007. "How Does Online Gaming Affect Social Interactions?." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily. Accessed 1 May 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070915110957.htm>