Out of the Woods, and Into the Screens: Playful Engagements with Virtual Nature

Research on virtual nature has largely focused on measurable outcomes such as restoration, learning, and pro-environmental attitudes, with less attention to how people interpret these experiences in relation to non-virtual nature. As games and other interactive environments increasingly mediate encounters with nature through play, we conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with people who engage playfully with virtual nature and analysed the data using reflexive thematic analysis. Our findings show that participants understood virtual and non-virtual nature as a relational continuum rather than separate domains. Virtual nature functioned as a bounded playful space where ecological actions could be explored without lasting consequence, prompting reflection on responsibility and environmental values beyond play. We articulate design considerations for reflective human–nature play, drawing on eudaimonic and maldaimonic dimensions of meaningful play to inform research on virtual nature and human–nature interaction.