The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Apr 24, 2020, 9:46 AM UTC

rdlw wrote: post #58

rgoulter wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> ...I think something relaxed like Animal Crossing somewhat undermines "games are a serious artform" It seems ludicrous to judge an artform entirely based on what you consider to be its least-worthy example. It's like seeing an episode of Friends and saying that television shows can't be serious art because they're just strings of cheap jokes or reading some smut and saying that a novel can't be about anything impor…

Post by slightwinder » Fri, Apr 24, 2020, 10:01 AM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #117

slightwinder wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm going to posit that a video game is the three following things In other words: Action from the player delivers result from the game, giving the player a sense of satisfaction. And that's the point. There is a direct correlation between action and satisfaction. The more challenging and complex your action is, the higher can be the satisfaction when you finally get a good result. And that's why people see Animal…

Haven't played AC yet, but it reminds me of Stardew Valley. Another game many would call pointless - besides the dungeon sidegame, you essentially run around the map, planting crops, picking crops, selling crops and gifting mayonnaise to people in exchange for story progression. There's little challenge here, and little complexity. But at the same time, the game is extremely relaxing . The music, the ambiance, the st…

Post by m_t » Fri, Apr 24, 2020, 10:22 AM UTC

slightwinder wrote: post #114

danbolt wrote: post #48

I've seen a lot of comments or responses from people saying that Animal Crossing's mechanics are unfulfilling or "pointless", but I think they're missing the spirit of what makes them enjoyable to a lot of people. I'm going to posit that a video game is the three following things, but you're welcome to disagree: 1) a player performs some sort of input into a game 2) the game responds with some sort of audiovisual phe…

> I'm going to posit that a video game is the three following things In other words: Action from the player delivers result from the game, giving the player a sense of satisfaction. And that's the point. There is a direct correlation between action and satisfaction. The more challenging and complex your action is, the higher can be the satisfaction when you finally get a good result. And that's why people see Animal…

Post by Smaug123 » Fri, Apr 24, 2020, 11:45 AM UTC

op03 wrote: post #136

Smaug123 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mark Rosewater, a designer of Magic: the Gathering, wrote a very interesting piece on what a "game" is: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/w... He says a useful model is that if the game has no goal, it's better termed a "toy" (like Lego); if it doesn't give you "agency", it's an "event" (like watching a film); if it doesn't have mechanics that restrict what's possible, it's an "activity" (lik…

I think all the different stories one hears from creative people about their success is at a psychological/sociological awareness level equivalent to pre-Maxwells Equation understanding of Magnetism and Electricity. Thanks to Zuckerberg & Co collecting more data in a day about behavior, than Psychologists and Sociologists have done through their lifetimes what is becoming obvious is there is a very WIDE distribution…

Post by madeofpalk » Fri, Apr 24, 2020, 12:20 PM UTC

Polylactic_acid wrote: post #81

bschwindHN wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The lest said about the online play the better. Heh, Nintendo is simply incapable or unwilling to produce a quality online experience. I don't know why. They created a masterpiece with Smash Ultimate but then did a huge disservice to themselves and the game by slapping on a really shitty online mode. Obviously it doesn't impact sales and that's likely what drives their decisions, but it's still so disappointing.

I wonder why they always put so little effort in. I know at least part of the reason is that nintendo wants to make an entirely child friendly experience which usually involves leaving as little player to player interaction as possible.