Could Video Games be a tool for conservation messages?

Video games can be used to communicate messages about conservation

Flatmates Jess Fisher and Danielle Rundle were inspired to explore a paper about the medium of video games to communicate conservation messages, which has just been published in the journal, People and Nature.

There are billions of video-gamers worldwide. During COVID-19, the gaming industry flourished as more and more people took to the screen for entertainment. Yet, this distraction from the real world, like spending time in natural environments, could have implications for people’s physical and mental health.

 

One particular game, released in time for global lockdowns in March 2020, was different. Animal Crossing: New Horizons quickly became the second best-selling video game ever in Japan, and sold millions of copies worldwide. The game has been praised for its positivity, escapism, and benefits to players’ mental wellbeing. The premise involves players creating their own island, upon which they collect and learn about different plants, animals, fossils, and ocean life.

 

This perspective article, published today in People and Nature, examines the different characteristics of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The article examines how such characteristics encourage activities that are both positive and negative for conservation (e.g. enhancing the diversity of island plant-life, but also encouraging exploitation of threatened species). Notably, the game focuses on two traditionally unpopular groups of species (fish and invertebrates), which receive a fraction of the mainstream media publicity that charismatic birds or mammals do. The game also encourages players to socialise with others, providing another outlet to communicate conservation messages. Although the real-world impact of this popular game has yet to be evaluated, the results could be interesting given its wide and international reach.

 

‘Finding new ways to communicate conservation messages to those who are disconnected from real-world is increasingly important.’

 

The perspective concludes with some recommendations for developers such as Nintendo to take forward. Indeed, a global commitment is needed from every industry to contend with the environmental challenges that face humanity.

 

‘The idea for the article originated while sitting around the flat during the early stages of the lockdown 1. Danielle, an avid Animal Crossing player, had recently acquired the New Horizons release in time for the Government’s orders,’ Jessica told us, ‘I was living in the same flat finishing my PhD, and noticed that the game had a lot of ecological detail. After talking a bit more about the game’s new release, we realised it could have implications for conservation messaging to a huge stay-at-home audience.’

 

This paper stemmed from a collaboration between DICE (University of Kent UK), ICCS (University of Oxford UK) and the Biodiversity Division (National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan).

Read the full paper here.

 

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