The colonialism of Animal Crossing New Horizons

Due to quarantine, lots of people have been indoors playing Animal Crossing New Horizons. The game has you on an island getaway, where as the game progresses, you’ll be changing the landscape and settling on the island. Although I, like many others, enjoy playing this game, the colonialist elements are overpowering.

The narrative presented, of an untapped natural ecosystem that “isn’t being taken advantage of” is one that was very prevalent in the colonization of Indigenous lands and Westward Expansion. The player will have houses built, walkways, bridges, inclines, and eventually be able to straight up alter the terrain.

The player in changing the landscape involves cutting down trees that are inconvenient and planting one’s more useful to the player. Getting resources from the rocks, lakes, rivers, and ocean, whilst adding infrastructure to the island. Clearing “weeds” which strongly resemble plants native to plains that are endangered.

Now yes, this game is fantasy. Although, Animal Crossing world might be more relaxing than the real world, these colonialist narratives are harmful for a reason. Right now these settler fantasies are becoming more and more prevalent such as cottegecore, tradwife, etc.

Most people who consume these aesthetics and fantasies often see it as an escape from society that’s too much, but are also hand in hand with white supremacists who also quite enjoy this too. The way they see mainstream society as “degenerate” and love the idea of colonization, with “taming wild unutilized land that the Natives never took advantage of.”

And it’s not like these narratives don’t harm Native people in real life. There’s been numerous instances during this pandemic where white people have ran to reservations to escape the cities, putting the Natives, who are already vulnerable to the virus, at risk.

Now once again, I do play Animal Crossing, and have fun. But it’s still important to be cautious of how colonialism continuously gets glamorized in the media.