Abstract
In the last three decades Japan has experienced a steady process of social disconnection, the vanishing of interpersonal links, and the decline of the making of new bonds. As an increasingly popular saying, Japan has been labelled as a “muen shakai”, a relationless society. Then, while some neoliberal discourses have praised the disappearance of social relationships lionising individualism and self-responsibility, other voices have advocated for the active participation in the making of new communities. This article argues that,Animal Crossing has engaged this debate, exploring the complexities of the process of socialisation, interpersonal relationships, and the making of communitarian bonds. The article further argues that Animal Crossing: New Leaf proposes a socialisation simulation that presents such process as an uncontrollable, unpredictable, and demanding endeavour. To support this argument, the article examines Animal Crossing: New Leaf’s main mechanics focusing on its affective design, and how it modulates players’ attention through manipulating their agency over the game.
Highlights
In 2012, Nintendo released Animal Crossing: New Leaf, ‘Tobidase Dōubutsu no Mori’ in Japan
This paper explores Animal Crossing: New Leaf (AC):NL as a product of its context, as a representation of the worries, hopes, and concerns of contemporary Japan, and as an experience that aims to have an effect on the players, to speak to them and enact change in the world (Gell, 1998)
I proceed to analyse AC:NL using design theory and affective design strategies in relation to the social interactions represented in the game and their outcomes in the gameplay before discussing AC:NL in relation to wider conversations about social construction and communities in contemporary Japan, how the game explores current challenges in a society in crises and the moral and existential proposals it communicates to its players
Summary
Animal Crossing Special Issue Volume 13, Number 22, 2020 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1075265ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1075265ar See table of contents Publisher(s) Canadian Game Studies Association ISSN 1923-2691 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Cesar, M. (2020). Fear Thy Neighbour: Socialisation and Isolation in Animal Crossing. Loading, 13(22), 89–108. https://doi.org/10.7202/1075265ar
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