When a cutie-bunny-hedgehog-kitty game comes out alongside Doom Eternal and Doom 64, it’s a test of self-confidence for a grown man to take it to the shop counter. Failing that test despicably, I invented the weak and unnecessary excuse that I could play Animal Crossing: New Horizons with my little boy. Working at home during the UK's Coronavirus lockdown, I saw a great chance to make him collect weeds and sticks while I was in meetings, to take the edge off that early-game grind for me – oh, and to bond with him, I suppose.
The first part of that plan didn’t exactly come off: his stilted bumping around and forgetting controls was painful to watch and he couldn’t harvest for toffee. Sure, there were some cute moments in there – he called our character “Moo” and modelled him on his baby brother – but there was a lot of frustration, like when he named our island “Water”, condemning me to an eternity of being asked “What’s a water airport? What’s a water museum?” and so on.
But as I tried to teach him the grammar of gaming, his “Why? Why? Why?” forced me to challenge the dusty assumptions of a gamer who accidentally became a retro gamer. Here are the six lessons he ended up teaching me.
1: Voice acting is not necessarily better
Of course, we all love the delightful Animalese, but you still have to read – and to read out loud if you’re with a small child. This was like our storybooks and my little sidekick loved it. Helpfully, we cohabited our island with an elephant called Axel, who shouted WHONK! At the end of every sentence. Usually, I’m mashing A with all my heart, but now we took our time together on all the dialogue.
Having played games since before talkies were possible, I still associate written text in games with technical or practical limitations that have now been surmounted. How misguided! Storybooks aren’t written down as a compromise when audio would be preferred. Text does work that spoken words can’t do, communicating specifically while leaving room for your imagination.
Seeing my small associate’s glee, I took away a revived appreciation for text in games.
2: The divide between gameplay and narrative is a fiction
For me, the story of New Horizons is one that unfolds over days and weeks. It’s the linking together of all the significant events on your island over time. Critically, those significant events are ceremoniously set out in cut-away dialogue, set-pieces and cutscenes – as in so many games since the dawn of time. So I considered our first day of play to be the start of a long, sweeping narrative about community, friendship and aspiration, which hadn’t really got started.
However, when I tried to elicit a retelling of what had happened on day one – prompting for where we went (island), how we got there (plane) and where we put the tent (beach). All I got back was the story of Moo running around: he ran on the grass then he ran on the sand then he ran on the rocks…
This sounds like a stupid story – and it would be in a film or a novel – but that’s how videogames tell stories. Yes, it can be incredibly dull to watch but that shouldn’t be a criticism. Just as a musician can love playing a piece they’re sick of hearing or someone recounting a thrilling dream will bore you, the direct experience of doing it is almost endlessly engaging, even if the surface is the opposite.
For this one, he taught me not to wait for the story to happen but instead to tell it for myself.
3: A real-time clock beats saving and loading
The real-time element of Animal Crossing was a groundbreaking concept for the N64, as was the idea of making persistent changes to the gameworld. This is robustly realised on Switch but back when I first met the idea, it was confusing to a '90s gamer: What if I don’t play every day? How do I pause? Can’t I force a respawn by leaving the screen? I still have to consciously recalibrate my expectations to play in those mechanics.
My short second-in-command, on the other hand, for a precious rare moment, had no reason to ask “Why?” To my concern about Moo’s wasp-stung eye, he answered “Maybe it will be better tomorrow”. It’s so obvious! And it’s free from the second-guessing of the game mechanics and technical limitations that I can’t help but run through in the back of my mind.
Conversely, imagine explaining save and load! If you would like to tutor my “pride” and “joy” on the metaphysical concepts of alternate temporal realities and branching hypothetical timelines then I will wish you well and pray for your sanity.
Moo’s eye was indeed better tomorrow. My lesson: stop overthinking the mechanics – modern games will look after you.
4: Push up to go up is a skill
As much as I appreciate there’s a grammar of gaming to be learnt, and some specific skills associated especially with action games – like managing two thumbsticks for an FPS – the absolute basics of movement I had taken as a given. Certainly, if you can’t comprehend the fundamental press-that-way-go-that-way then there’s nothing further I could teach you. Either you’ve got it or you haven’t.
My dad, for example, whom I have never managed to get to play a game, saw this kind of skill development as a chore – and one with meagre reward at that. “Oh. Great. Now I can walk towards a stick at will.” My compact wingman says the same thing but without any trace of sarcasm.
So I learnt that there are really, really basic gaming skills that I take for granted, but also that those can be learnt. They’re even fun to learn in the right environment.
5: The little tricks actually work
When you’re transported to the fantasy world of a game, there’s always the little merry dance of ignoring the gamey paraphernalia. For our part as players, we politely let menu screens and save game management go by without bothering our suspension of disbelief. We erase from history the times the hero ran into a wall or stood blankly while we took a phone call. Game designers, meanwhile, help out by dressing their menus up in thematic imagery, having player characters tap feet or snooze if we don’t move them, building save mechanics into the game world through computer terminals or stone sofas, and so on.
But Animal Crossing: New Horizons pulled off two gameworld magic tricks that delighted the innocent mind of my diminutive accomplice. First, it presented its inventory screen as a thought bubble floating from Moo’s head. I didn’t even notice until my tiny mentee told me “He’s thinking about a pear and an apple”. For him, there was no break in the gameplay – thinking about pockets is as much a part of it as running clumsily in circles for 10 minutes.
Second, when the islanders all have a vote on the best island name suggestion and pick yours – a little gimmick to paper over the oddity that you should be calling the shots and not one of the other package-tourists – my miniature sidekick was squealing with pride. Even though naming the island “Water” was utterly stupid.
I learnt not to be so dismissive of the ingenious sleight of hand developers come up with: it really is magic to the unjaded.
6: Games are fun
Now, I love videogames, but I loved them when it really wasn’t – how should I put this? – socially normal for a late teen to be playing Game Boy. As a result, I now realise I’ve been on the defensive about games for all my adult life. Again, I think of the patient but immovable confusion on my dad’s face as I would try to demonstrate the joy of them.
The direct thrill of the movement, sounds and animations were always up against old-media expectations of narrative development, passive consumption and authorial control. But they shouldn’t be! Games are fun. Never mind grand visions and epic stories and clever mechanics and awesome worlds: Moo picks a flower and it goes pop. I’ve learnt to see the essential fun of that again.
Old dog, new tricks?
All this has changed my perspective for the better. I suppose it’s obvious when you spell it out – so obvious a 3-year-old could see it – but I needed to finally drop my last-century-gamer baggage. Now, I have all my old favourites lined up so that he can teach me to enjoy them like a kid again. Maybe I’ll hold off on Doom 64 for the moment, then.
Comments 44
Even though it is slower to give things individually, I like to read what Blathers says about each museum donation.
That was pretty heartwarming to read. I wasn't ready for feels today.
What a fun article, thank you.
This was a really lovely read, and completely relatable. I am a massive gamer, my husband not so much, but the kids... ah memories of teaching them all about it ❤️❤️
Damn, that was a great piece. Almost brought a tear, and certainly brought back memories of my own amazement in front of my first games.
HOWEVER, and I'm sorry: Water is a great name for an island.
Great article!!! Similar thing around here. Playing with a 4 year old boy a 7 year old girl and me while being our first AC experience, sharing the island and leadership per turns is quite something.
Great read as always, Roland. I’m playing with my two kids (3.5 and 5.5 years old) and can relate to almost all of this. We don’t do a lot of gaming together yet, but AC has been a true joy, and the timing is stupidly perfect.
Marvelous review, you did great dear champ.
I feel your pain/joy. This is the first game me and and my 3 year old have properly played together. There's been highs (he actually jumped up and fist pumped the first time we used the vaulting pole) and lows (he went round digging about a hundred holes I had to go and full in). It's been a great experience though and I agree with everything you've said, it's also taught me that I take so much for granted as a seasoned gamer!
This game is literally about consumerism.
It really is a metaphor of the real world: grinding everyday (working) just so you can buy things you don't need (and accumulating debt).
Good article and yes, Water is fine. My island is called Hope.
AC has always been great, it's so good looking at all this people enjoying it. My 2 daughters have each their character and house, we're fighting for that Switch lol. It's always incredibly interesting to watch them having fun in different ways. The 12 years old boy wants HIS Switch with HIS copy. Oh Nintendo what have you done?
I've let my niece play on my 3DS from time to time. I've always let her pick a game from the menu instead of trying to get her to play something I like. Of course I make sure it's a game that's suitable for someone of her age. She's only 4. One day she discovered New Leaf. It was something that I knew would happen sooner or later. She calls it "haavipeli" which translates to "(bug-catching) net game".
It's been fun watching her play Animal Crossing. I never taught her anything unless she asked. She learned how to walk, how to catch bugs, how to shake trees, how to pick up items, how to buy and use clothing and how to decorate her house (or actually my house, it's my old save) on her own. It's been fascinating to see how fast she picks up on things. The only thing where she needs my help is fishing. And of course I need to read out loud when she wants to know what others are saying. She always wants to play Animal Crossing when I see her which is not too often since we live far apart.
She got to play New Horizons for the first time last weekend since my younger sister owns the game too and she paid them a visit. I wish I were there to see her reaction. I heard she really liked jumping across the rivers with the vaulting pole.
You just haven't played Animal Crossing until I've been to your island
@Tandy255
I love this as well! Wish he would put stuff on the museum (like facts and things in the posts) just in case those hard to find fish and bugs haha.
Been a longtime reader of this site, but had to make an account to thank Roland for writing this piece. It does such a great job of addressing some of the major ills that have become part of the mainstream gaming industry, particularly the obsession with spectacle and set-pieces, spoon-fed narratives, and the homogeneity of gaming experiences. Where so many AAA titles feel like the same, endorphin-driven experience with new skins, New Horizons is almost the antithesis of that, focusing on the small details and rewarding consistent effort over a long time scale, and I love it!
Great article. It’s easy to forget how alien game language and controls are once they become etched into your brain.
I’m about to be a father (the due date is only a few days away!) and am looking forward to introducing them to gaming in a few years. Hopefully they’ll like it but we’ll see.
I learned that voice acting isn't always better not long after voice acting throughout a game was becoming expected. I'd find myself skipping(when possible) conversations, even when the acting was good. And despite people criticizing the lack of voice acting in Wind Waker on the Gamecube, I loved it. Voice acting wouldn't have made it better for me, and reading saved a lot of time which is important to me.
The last point is essential. Every time I discuss about videogames, the first things other people say are "graphics, plot, difficulty, badass moments, blablabla". The first thing I say is whether I had fun or not. That element is fundamental. Yes, the other pieces of the puzzle are very, very important. But if a game is not fun to play, what's the point?
@ghepardo
My first memory is of me and my brother playing Tekken 3. I was four years old. I am not addicted (and I never punched anyone). Parenting is also teaching how much of an activity is good, and how much of it is bad.
I had a pretty similar experience myself when my mum played through Red Dead 2, her first proper game other than a couple of Lego games. It really helps you appreciate the small things and see it from a different point of view. She might have found Witcher 3 a bit difficult for now but she’s planning to go back after Spider-Man.
I keep hearing people say how ground-breaking it was that a N64 game had a real-time clock built in (because it was originally designed for the 64DD which itself had a built-in clock). Meanwhile I'm unimpressed but rather impressed instead that Pokémon Gold and Silver did it first on the Game Boy, a friggin' 8-bit system! Or for that matter, Far East of Eden Zero did that waaaayyyy before even Pokémon, in 1995, on Super Famicom. So a N64 game doing that is not all that groundbreaking, really.
@ghepardo His son may actually learn to read at an early age because of the text in AC.
My daughter's started playing New Leaf a couple of years ago and they were so traumatized when they shook a tree and their characters got stung leaving a welt on their face that they stopped shaking trees entirely, even though my wife and I showed them how to get and use medicine multiple times. They would literally be bawling when it happened.
When they first started New Horizons one of them stated they would never be shaking trees, but just today that same daughter told me she has caught so many wasps in the game. I'm so proud at her growth.
@ghepardo
The right type of games in the right amount is actually good for brain development. I would usually rather my kids play video games rather than watch a show, more interaction and problem solving. Of course it is only one activity in a long list of activities that are good for development and yes, shouldn't be the only activity.
Ok, so when I first read the intro "it’s a test of self-confidence for a grown man to take it to the shop counter", I was gonna jokingly say "that's so 90's!", because even though I'm aware a lot of people still buy physical releases, it doesn't make any sense to me (and I'm probably around the same age as this article's author).
But after the reading the whole article, I really have to say: where have you been all these years, grandpa?!
"Voice acting is not necessarily better"
Have you never played a Nintendo game before or how is that news to you?
And I'm like you, I usually spam 'A' on those dialogue boxes. But still I knew about the benefits they can have too, for a long time.
"the direct experience of doing it is almost endlessly engaging, even if the surface is the opposite."
That's one of the most basic things about video games, how can you have played them for decades without ever experiencing this?
"Push up to go up is a skill" and "Games are fun"
Again, this is not exactly news if you ever showed a non-gamer - at least not one that isn't old or unwilling to learn new things - how to play a video game.
Sorry if this sounds harsh, but none of the things you mentioned in the article are new or even specific to Animal Crossing.
Which says more about your gaming experience than about anything else. I'm baffled how you haven't learned any of these lessons in the previous decades? Those are pretty hard to circumvent.
You're totally right about point number 3 and 5 though, I give you that.
@Arcade_Tokyo
When my daughter was around that age, I realized there is a big hole in the market for console-like games that suit 3-5 year olds. The two biggest problems I encountered:
1. The total lack of games that simply allow a kid to explore without having to fight enemies, or they get stuck early in a level because they need platforming skills to advance.
2. Too many games targeted at kids rely on text in order to play (GUI elements, narrative, etc). The child can't just play the game by themselves without a parent needing to read for them. Nintendo scored very poorly on this in my opinion. They're known as kid-friendly, but their insistence on using gobbledegook for all voice-overs in this day is frustrating. Plus your kid can only get so far before another text box pops up. I found my daughter just got frustrated with this type of game because she needed someone to read it for her every single time. An older person or parent isn't always going to be available.
Because of the reasons above, one my daughter's favourite games at that age turned out to be Goat Simulator 👍
This is a really fun and interesting article. 👍
Thanks for this article. I’m a solo Dad with a four-year-old daughter, and would love to game with her. Animal Crossing doesn’t sound like my kind of game, but to share with my little one is a different proposition, and I think she’d have a blast. So thank you!
I don't really know. As a 28 year old single man, I can't really relate. I'm quite glad I'm single and not a parent. I'm still rather selfish and would not want to let a little one play my games.
And as a defensive measure, I forced myself to stop caring about most of what was considered "socially normal" about, oh, 13-15 years ago now. After years of being bullied for the things I liked throughout elementary and middle school, I learned it was much easier to enjoy life if I just stopped caring what those around me thought, and embraced my interests as my own. Turned out bullies lose interest if you don't give them an interesting response.
Sticking with a tiny group of like minded nerds was preferable to conforming to what was considered normal, popular and trendy.
And university while most people were off partying and sleeping with anything that had a pulse, me and a couple friends would go to the bar, drink and talk about games. Or stay home and play games on Friday nights while everyone else was out doing the whole fraternity thing.
I've always loved games and long since stopped caring what other people thing of me (90% anyway, I keep myself groomed and clean of course!) and am perfectly happy staying single and childless.
As someone with pretty much no interest in Animal Crossing...that's one of the best game articles I've read in a long time!
@SpicyWolf Wow, thank you! Nice bunch of people here as I’m sure you know. Hope to see you in the comments some more
@Glitchling78 Congratulations and good luck! I have been waiting all this time to play games with my older son but don’t want to force it. As @Late said about their niece, better to let them explore and discover for themselves. My first true gaming love was Monkey Island so that’s the one I dream about him playing with his little brother one day. All the best – don’t forget the Switch in your hospital bag
@gokev13 Love that story! I was proud enough seeing him learn to walk (somewhat) accurately.
@shani Did you even read the piece properly? This is about seeing video games in a different light via your children. Roland has been writing about games for years and has visited Japan on several occasions to cover the Toyko Game Show and other elements of Japanese gaming culture. You might want to try re-reading the feature again because you've totally missed the point - as is proven by the fact that the rest of the comments are almost overwhelmingly positive.
@Damo @shani
I did enjoy writing this, taking things at a slower pace and sharing the experience. Maybe the biggest thing I got from it was a reminder not to be a cynical know-it-all determined to prove something wrong rather than enjoy the good in it.
Great article! There are so many little things in games that we gamers fly right by. My 16 year old points them out to me.
Thank you for writing this, it was a great read!
My kids of the same age are having a more typical introduction to gaming: Mario Odyssey and Minecraft Dungeons. Keep things set to easy enough difficulties and the kids’ll slowly develop skills enough to be useful teammates.
"t’s a test of self-confidence for a grown man to take it to the shop counter."
Really? I don't mean offence but I think it's pretty sad there are people that still feel that way about gender roles that they open a professionally written article with it.
So relatable! My brother often plays the big online shooter games, and I complain when he doesn't get a game with a good story/campaign. His response was: "Are you kidding? The person on the screen is the story. The environment is a story. It's just your job to figure out what the details are trying to tell you."
My eyes were opened.
@NoTinderLife No it isn't, is all presented as a choice, you don't have to do none of that if you don't want to. Difference is, as a child you see the fun and enjoyment in everything. As a sad adult you have been condition by other adults to see otherwise, you been a perfect example. Take it from this 3 year old, nothing wrong with picking a flower and enjoying running around for hours with no purpose than just pure innocent fun, and if a wasp ruins your day, there is always tommorow =
@Ogbert
If you consider the content, characters, marketing and social media around the games mentioned, you will see that it is still very normal to “feel that way” about which audiences games seem to be intended for. The narrator of the article considers it a test of self-confidence to challenge mainstream views – implying specifically that he shares your frustration with still-prevalent attitudes.
He is “failing … despicably” for not mounting that challenge: the article couldn’t be further from championing the imagined viewpoint that saddens you.
What’s more, you have chosen to focus entirely on the “man”, rather than the “grown”, where adulthood is the more relevant topic – as made obvious by the title of the article, which alludes to themes of parenting.
Further, on that theme, the opening paragraph is designed to set the narrator up as a flawed character, who will then be shown the light by the unexpected wisdom of his own child.
It’s not a literary masterpiece, but since it got an overwhelmingly positive response and has been featured in the Best of 2020, I think it’s fair to say that it basically worked.
The professionalism you refer to is what means you get all that attention to good structure despite the fact that it’s just a quick, lighthearted read. Enjoy!
@Arcade_Tokyo No he's saying he feels that pressure as an adult and as a man, not that he's disappointed that's still the norm. And he's stating it in a way that states that is the norm for everyone. I know that this attitude will also be semi-regional too, so perhaps where he is it is the norm. I still find that sad and that the writer wouldn't even look outside their bubble enough to caveat that to some this is the norm and make more of a note of it being a ridiculous pressure he's had put on himself. Because otherwise all they are actually doing is perpetuating the notion that Animal Crossing is not a game grown men should be playing they should be playing the likes of Doom. Because they state it being a test of self confidence for a grown man (and it is important they say 'grown man' and not simply "an adult", they are specifically making it a gender and age thing) not for themselves. It's all small details that make a world of difference to what is actually being said.
Thankfully in my social circles the notion of something like Doom being for grown men and Animal Crossing being for little kids is considered the embarrassing thing. Doom has an obvious age limit, so it's not for kids, but bar that it's for everyone and Animal Crossing has no limit on who it's for. And both are great games so that's all the better!
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