One game that I really love and holds a special place in my heart is Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It really shaped my entire experience in the pandemic and I’m sure it did the same for many other people.
I think the mechanics of Animal Crossing can be grouped into two categories, ones that are more self-expressive, and ones that are goal-oriented.
The self expressive actions are things like decorating your island, planting flowers, placing benches, expanding and decorating your home, pulling weeds so they don’t cover everything, buying the clothes you want your character to have, etc. These are solely done for the purpose of making the digital space and the representation of yourself into what you want it to be. There aren’t milestones or bells or anything of the sort that you get for doing these things, this is solely done for you and you are intrinsically motivated to do it. I think this allows for the dynamic of the game being a space of safety, you handcrafted it into being exactly what you need it to be for your happiness, and you can change it at any time. It also, as given by the way I categorized it, gives rise to the dynamic/aesthetic of expression, allowing people to find joy in creation while making it contribute to the overall goal of making your perfect, safe, place.
The goal-oriented actions are things like picking fruit, fishing, digging for fossils, purchasing art from the shady seller in the corner of the island, catching bugs, anything where the game is structured in such a way where it rewards you for doing so. You make money for selling these things or you can donate these things to the museum and complete your collection. There is some extrinsic motivation for these actions/mechanics in the game. This makes the game much more interesting, because in a sense you have to feel that actions you take have value. You found something new! You can sell this for bells and buy more stuff for your island! Your actions have purpose!
Purpose is the keyword here for why I believe this game ultimately is perfect for Abnegation. It is a safe space, handcrafted by you, where any action you take is simple, fun, and yet not inconsequential. In a world where we collectively felt powerless, alone, and unable to interact with the world around us, Animal Crossing gave us expression, control, and the ability to feel like everything you do has value as it is to reach the ultimate goal of making this island the perfect world to come back to, something that we all needed at that time. This is perfect for the escapism that many of us collectively used this game for in the pandemic, giving rise to what I think was the primary aesthetic of the game, Abnegation.
