Last month I wrote about the paper I’m writing for Loading… where I got excited about applying the method of garbology to archaeogaming. This paper grew out of a current gaming fix I’ve been on, where I’ve jumped back into my New Leaf save file to play in my town and interact with my villagers.
I feel like in the 10 months since I’ve had New Leaf (I know, I’m really late to the party) I’ve changed a lot as a player. When I started my PhD program last fall, I started playing quite a bit of the original Animal Crossing on my favorite GCN emulator. Two years ago I wrote a two-part blog post dissecting my issues with the Pocket Camp mobile game (I haven’t played that since, maybe its better), but last year I read something about how Animal Crossing helped someone with their mental health. So I started to play my ROM and found something similar enough to give New Leaf a try.
It’s hard to discuss exactly what has happened with my mental health and Animal Crossing over the past year, especially as it relates to my PhD. I think anyone who has been a PhD student understands the emotional labor involved, the taxing and draining experience. So I’ve tried various coping mechanisms to deal with the endless stress and worry. One of those has been Animal Crossing, and lately I’ve dived back into it again. My play-styles have evolved and changed, where originally (especially on that ROM file) I was maximizing my fruit output in order to pay off my debt. I would plant as many non-native fruit as possible, use time travel to bypass the waiting period, harvest, and repeat, often with a money tree thrown in there as well. But now, after having a period of drought over the summer, I am playing slightly differently. I am still finding ways to maximize my monetary gains, and still growing a lot of fruit, but I’m doing less time travel and more of the other natural mechanics of the game (talking to NPCs, doing other quests, donating to the museum). I think that this change in my play style probably has more to do with my maturity within the game, as well as my changes in motivations and needs for the play.
I was originally trying to “beat” the game, trying to find ways to pay off debts, earn the biggest, best things. However, now I am trying to just play. Just play. Because as I play, unwind, and sink into the world of Animal Crossing, I find myself staying afloat of my stressors. My anxieties and my depression is more in control when I take time to just enjoy something fun, instead of just trying to beat it.
Hyrule University 