Why might games contain elements that seem diametrically opposed to their core fantasy?
A Hairy Situation
Recently, I’ve been playing a lot of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The game provides a welcome escape from real life: during a stressful time when I am quarantined inside my apartment, I can feel free to visit a tropical island full of animal residents to befriend, bugs and fish to catch, flowers to grow, furniture to collect, and more. In my mind, it seems obvious that this game is designed for escapism—it’s a real-time life sim that maximizes the relaxation factor.
That is, until I’m suddenly attacked by wasps, tarantulas, or scorpions.
When I’m fully immersed in the bliss of virtual island life, an assault by these aggressive arthropods feels like getting jumpscared by Freddy Krueger while waiting to meet a princess at Disney World. Even if getting stung or bitten doesn’t have any truly significant consequences in-game, the game still exploits my survival instincts to deliver pure terror that interrupts the dreamlike peace that otherwise permeates every corner of the game.
So, I pose the question: if Animal Crossing is supposed to be a game for escapism and relaxation, why include something so diametrically opposed to this core purpose in the game at all?
Animal Crossing’s History
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is my first Animal Crossing game, so naturally, I first pondered this question without considering the previous games in the series. From this perspective, I couldn’t come up with any answers to my question. It seemed like a cruel joke to at the player’s expense to assault them with real and dangerous creatures, which many people are afraid of in real life, while the player tries to escape real life sources of stress and anxiety.
But then I started investigating the older Animal Crossing games, and I noticed a curious trend. Many elements of those games were specifically designed to punish and stress out players for treating the game like a game and not like real life. In the original Animal Crossing on the GameCube, Mr. Resetti punishes the player by berating them and ranting for literal minutes when the player quits the game without saving. In every game, weeds take over the town when the player doesn’t pull weeds for too long. Another staple in every game is that villagers keep track of how long it has been since the player last talked to them, and they will get upset with the player for not talking to them for too long in real time. Sometimes, villagers will even move out of the town during the player’s absence. And let’s not forget the fact that the player always owes an exorbitant debt to Tom Nook, who provides a house for the player and only demands payment afterwards.
Is Animal Crossing Really About Escapism?
As I considered all these elements of the old games, I realized that I had assumed something about Animal Crossing that wasn’t entirely true. Animal Crossing is not trying to be a game series purely for providing escapism and relaxation. The true goal of the series is to teach players how to be responsible in real life. The reason that the original Animal Crossing game was a relaxing life sim was to provide an appealing environment where players could make mistakes and learn real life lessons without the disastrous repercussions that often accompany making these same mistakes in real life. In more recent Animal Crossing games, the focus has shifted from teaching life lessons to providing escapism, but the underlying goal of the series to teach valuable life lessons is still present. That is why there are still wasps, tarantulas, and scorpions in the newest Animal Crossing game despite the fact that the game is literally about moving to a deserted island to relax.
Now, is it a good idea in general for a game to include features that work directly against the fantasy the game intends to provide? Almost certainly not. I would guess that 99 times out of 100 this would just make a game worse. However, Animal Crossing teaches us a bizarre lesson: it is possible for a game to include features that work against its core fantasy to push towards a more subtle goal that would make a less compelling game when approached directly.
If you plan to use this technique, just make sure you have a darn good reason to use it.
Kevin Stiles' Game Design Blog 