(What) can we learn from playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

(Note that this was previously hosted on Wordpress.com but moved due to ad content)

October 10, 2023

Introduction to Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo , 2020)

Introduction and Motivation of Posting

When I think back to March 2020 and the start of our first COVID-19 “pandemic lockdown”, I recall a fair number of Twitter conversations about harvesting turnips and using bells. Some questionable COVID-19 remedy? No. I soon discovered that these were discussions amongst friends pertaining to the in-game economics of the newly released Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH). While the game was purchased for family use at the start of the second COVID-19 “pandemic lockdown” in 2021, I never did get the opportunity to play it.

Game content (CW from top left): turnips, bells, fishing pole and shovel

For my journal, I chose to explore the links between gaming and learning using ACNH because I had observed how captivating the game was to players of many different ages and gaming preferences yet, as I mentioned in a previous discussion posting (Hogan, 2023), I was actually unsure if the game even had a well-defined goal or objective; as noted in the introduction video, you’re “free to do what you like” in-game (Nintendo of America, 2020). In my above-mentioned discussion posting, I linked my experiences with ACNH with the theoretical underpinnings essential to GBL approach (Adipat et. al., 2021). Thus, I set my own gameplay goal for this journal posting – to determine if/how situated learning occurs within ACNH (Gee et. al., 2008).

About ACNH

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a third-person simulation game that is part of the Animal Crossing series of games, and only available for play on the Nintendo Switch. The game simulates life on an island where the economy revolved around two types of currency:

• Bells, which you primarily earn by collectings and selling natural resources, and can use to buy every day necessities such as tools and medicine; and
• Nook Miles (named for key series non-player character, Tom Nook), which you primarily earn by completing tasks such as logging on each day, and can be used to buy airline tickets and “extras” like clothing and new recipes.

Within the game there are opportunities for social interaction with NPCs who also live on your island as well as other players you can connect to via local network or online. It is in these interactions that you learn more about island life (eg. how to use tools to obtain resources, what benefits different resources or necessities can offer). But there are no pre-defined in-game goals, and no real “win state” the game.

Situated Learning Opportunities within ACNH

In our course readings we are introduced to the Situated Learning Matrix (Gee, 2008, p. 24) as a framework for linking game design components to teaching and learning theory. The first aspect of this framework focuses on identity or who you are in this game. One of the first things I did when starting the game was design my character – name, facial features, base outfit. Had I been the first one to play the game on our family’s Nintendo Switch, I would also have been able to define some of the characteristics of my island such as name and basic layout, but technological limitations meant I had to exist on my daughter’s island. But even then, there is no “island hierarchy” and all players have opportunities to shape themselves and surroundings.

Me (well, my avatar) outside Residence Services
(screenshot from gameplay)

Early in play, Tom Nook provides some basic advice on how you can live successfully on the island. This provides transition to the next aspect of the Situated Learning Matrix, establishing context for goals and norms. Goals and norms (rules) are two of five commonalities established in (Huezinga et. al., 2017) as part of their definition of digital gaming. Whereas in other games the objectives of playing and guidelines to follow while doing so are largely dictated (or at least established) by the game, in the case of ACNH they are largely player-driven. Yes, you may get bells for selling items, but you don’t have to; lack of bells will not lead to your demise, it just won’t lead to being able to puchase things. You can choose to spend the whole day swimming in the ocean and nothing else, and nothing bad will happen. In one way, this contradicts another commonalities of digital games, outcomes; but viewed differently, it places the decision on what outcomes are important with the player.

Tom Nook giving his daily (non-news) announcement (source: Giphy)

So, how to decide what outcomes are important, and how do you determine what consistutes “success” in the game? That largely depends on the tools or attire you choose to buy (with bells) or craft (from materials gathered on the island), and what you want your focus to be. This corresponds with the third aspect of the Situated Learning Matrix, tools and technologies. While in my first session I crafted a fishing pole, I realized that the act of fishing in the game requires patience I don’t possess in great quantities. In another gaming session, I instead chose to purchase a wet suit and spend time exploring the ocean, collecting ocean life to donate to the museum or sell to Tom Nook for bells.

Some night swimming. Note the bubbles to the right… a sea creature to be captured.

In donating to the museum, you are able to learn real-life facts about your specimen or fossil from Blathers, the curator. In trading with Tom Nook, you establish worth of certain items versus the efforts it takes to retrieve them. This content is certainly educational, but embedded in a way that most players don’t recognize, and is optional to receive (though Blathers does look disappointed if you choose not to listen). There are other real-life skills in communication and cooperation that can be developed through ACNH play, particularly if playing collaboratively via network or (as I was) playing on an island established and used by another non-NPC.

Blathers happily sharing knowledge (source: Tenor)

What’s Next in ACNH Gameplay?

Having established that ACNH is a digital game that, if viewed in the Situated Learning Matrix framework, can be a beneficial tool for learning, I want to continue to play and see how my objectives evolve; already I’ve discovered I enjoy digging up weeds and selling them for bells, and wish to collaborate with my daughter on improving our island. I also wish to link the game to further course readings, and potentially to my practice of teaching algorithms.

References

Adipat, S., Laksana, K., Busayanon, K., Asawasowan, A., & Adipat, B. (2021). Engaging students in the learning process with game-based learning: The fundamental concepts. International Journal of Technology in Education (IJTE), 4(3), 542-552. https://doi.org/10.46328/ijte.169

Gee, J. P. (2008). Learning and games. In K. S. Tekinbaş (Ed.), The ecology of games: Connecting youth, games, and learning (pp. 21-40). The MIT Press.

Hogan, L. (2023, September 30). Animal Crossing: New Horizons as Instruction [Discussion post]. Memorial University Brightspace. https://online.mun.ca/

Huizenga, J. C., ten Dam, G. T. M., Voogt, J. M., & Admiraal, W. F. (2017). Teacher perceptions of the value of game-based learning in secondary education. Computers and Education, 110, 105–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.03.008

Nintendo of America (2020, May 11). What Is Animal Crossing: New Horizons? A Guide for the Uninitiated [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AkEFot5UF0

ED6927

Digital Game-Based Learning