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The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing

#31

Post by rgoulter »

Uhhrrr wrote: post #14

Why does he go on and on about whether the game accurately represents modern life? It seems like this misses the point of games in general, and a game for pre-teens about talking animals specifically.

The thesis of the article """I had imagined Animal Crossing to be a game about the world, one that offered ingenious, if abstract, life lessons. But the players enjoying it in quarantine celebrate it for escapism, which any form of entertainment might provide. Neither interpretation seems quite right. .... Instead, Animal Crossing is a political hypothesis about how a different kind of world might work—one with no losers."""

This strikes me as "blood from a stone".

Generally, games aren't taken as serious art with high brow messages. I don't think Animal Crossing is really trying to 'say' anything. (Albeit, the original one was made when the developer was feeling lonely when he moved to a new town). I think the author is the kind who wants to write lofty things about games.

I think that explains the frustration in the question "Do people find comfort in [this bullshit]?". If you make serious games with serious messages to be taken seriously by serious people, I think something relaxed like Animal Crossing somewhat undermines "games are a serious artform".

Re: The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing

#32

Post by mcphage »

voz_ wrote: post #10

It is a rather poor game all things considered. Stardew valley is far better. On the whole, the one thing they needed to nail is co-op, and that is probably the thing they did the worst on. The game features are limited, villager interaction is inane, the items are repetitive, the goals non-existent. I understand the simple joy of a no-pressure game, but without a meaningful reward loop of any kind, the whole thing s…

> but without a meaningful reward loop of any kind

Maybe the reward loops aren’t what you think they are.

Re: The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing

#33

Post by dpeck »

I know it sound silly, but I find that it goes really well with an audio book. It's a nice way to chill out at the end of the day if I don't have the energy to hack away on anything. Having something to do with my hands while listening helps my thoughts not to wander as much, even if I'm just going around fishing and harvesting fruit so my son can sell them and build/buy whatever he wants the next day.

I wouldn't have bought it on my own, but having just one child and the quarantine I'm thankful that it exists.

Re: The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing

#34

Post by freeMoneySry »

bigtunacan wrote: post #6

I loved the original Animal Crossing, but honestly I think the less well known indie game Stardew Valley is far better.

Hard disagree. Stardew valley is a simple cellphone quality game. It's like saying Farmville is great because it is addictive.

Re: The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing

#35

Post by freeMoneySry »

minimaxir wrote: post #9

It's interesting how New Horizons adds many quality-of-life features to streamline gameplay...but still deliberately keeps some of the monotony present in the game design two decades ago on the GameCube. Adding a "weight" to repetitive actions has been a controversial game design principle. It implicitly makes good/efficient actions more rewarding, but there has to be a balance.

Instead of additional content, play time is added through annoyances?

Just Nintendo Fanboy Things

Re: The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing

#36

Post by bo1024 »

Analemma_ wrote: post #4
Trasmatta wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That quote was from Frank Lantz, who is the guy who designed Universal Paperclips. There's a bit of irony about the criticism of repetition, coming from someone who designed a game about clicking buttons over and over to make numbers go up. Disclaimer: I actually think Universal Paperclips is brilliant, and agree that Animal Crossing has a lot of overly tedious and unnecessary mechanics. But I don't think it's fair t…

Was Universal Paperclips supposed to be fun? I kind of got the impression it was meant to scare you into donating to MIRI or whatever.

I got completely sucked into it (the philosophy and "story" being a big part of that). It was fun to try and optimize, fun to follow events, and cathartic to reach the end. Sometimes I would take breaks at points while income built up in the background, but I also spent plenty of time optimizing. And I don't normally enjoy grinding.

Re: The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing

#37

Post by eqmvii »

dmix wrote: post #16
lawrenceyan wrote: post #11

It's kind of funny that they titled the article this way considering the fact that Animal Crossing is currently banned in China because people have been using it as a platform to stage the Hong Kong protests online [1]. I suppose it gives 'quiet revolution' a doubly apt connotation. [1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52269671

That resulted in a ban that will affect every game released in China. Games will have to start blocking any interaction between mainland Chinese and any ‘foreigner’: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22885892 This is part of the reversal of the great ‘Opening of China’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_economic_reform

Must make it tempting to have limited communication systems, like Magic the Gathering: Arena, where players can only choose from a handful of benign emotes.

Re: The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing

#38

Post by empath75 »

hi5eyes wrote: post #24
ehnto wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit: Oh boy, I didn't even realise TFA was written by the same guy. I hadn't read it yet, no wonder it's bringing up the same discussions. /endEdit I stumbled upon this article a while ago which attempts to argue that former idea to absurdity, it's very well written. I disagree with almost the whole thing, but it was fun to see someone disconnect themselves so far from the simple, real time engagement of a playing a…

games are a grind everyone thats ever played an mmo knows flipping specific builds/leveled accounts using botting software is some of the most common middle schoolers first money making enterprise at some level almost all games could be reduced to a version of cookie clicker good games keep players actively looking for a new meta by tweaking and adding content, similar to the everchanging running of a business

I disagree with this strongly — good games are not a grind and not all games have leveling mechanics.

Re: The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing

#40

Post by empath75 »

rgoulter wrote: post #31
Uhhrrr wrote: post #14

Why does he go on and on about whether the game accurately represents modern life? It seems like this misses the point of games in general, and a game for pre-teens about talking animals specifically.

The thesis of the article """I had imagined Animal Crossing to be a game about the world, one that offered ingenious, if abstract, life lessons. But the players enjoying it in quarantine celebrate it for escapism, which any form of entertainment might provide. Neither interpretation seems quite right. .... Instead, Animal Crossing is a political hypothesis about how a different kind of world might work—one with no lo…

Games express meaning whether the creators intend it or not.
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