Interspecies Relationships in Animal Crossing’s Society: Utopia or Speciesism?

Animal Crossing is a famous cozy video game in which players embody a human character living among anthropomorphic animals. Playing Animal Crossing has been evidenced to fulfill players’ Maslow’s needs, such as deficiency-motivated needs (safety, love and esteem—with the exception of physical needs) and growth-motivated needs (cognitive, esthetic, and self-actualization needs). We can suggest that animal characters, with their cute esthetic, are an important part of the game’s success. If such a virtual society is a safe place for humans (players and characters), what messages does it convey regarding our interactions with nature and other species? To answer this question, we investigated the relationships between players and nonhuman species in Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete. Positive effects of such interspecies interactions have been observed at both intra- and extradiegetic levels: an improved knowledge of the animal kingdom and an improved sensitivity to its diversity. However, the game also has negative sides: its speciesist, colonialist and capitalist dynamics promote animals’ objectification. We then discuss how players can transform the game to consider all animal species with equal respect, and how other games with more ethical dynamics are a good model for further game designs.