Animal Crossing & Genesis 1:28

Spread pro-environmental destruction stances

Photo by Yves Alarie on Unsplash

Why can I not just enjoy the simple escape of a children’s video game. Why can I not just enjoy the calming soundtrack or bright colors that fill my Switch screen.

I can only think of how in Animal Crossing: New Horizons one is rewarded with Nook Plus Miles for chopping down trees, given money (bells) for catching plus selling butterflies, or asked to develop land for a KK Crusin’ concert. In the midst of all of this I can only think about how Animal Crossing contributes to a belief in man’s rightful dominion over the earth. Animal Crossing rewards the player for causing environmental destruction.

Tom Nook, the owner of the island you reside on in Animal Crossing: New Horizons asks of any player to subdue the island in a similar manner that Genesis commands man to subdue the earth.

“God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”

Both Animal Crossing and Genesis teach that man should rule and use nature however they desire. Both Animal Crossing and Genesis contribute to an attitude that man’s environmental destruction is actually a good because it fulfills the needs of man.

There is a looming contradiction in how anthropocentric animals and non-anthropocentric animals are treated in Animal Crossing. At once you can be friendly neighbors with a walking, talking octopus while in Blathers’ museum there is an octopus on exhibit. In Animal Crossing where does a creature loose their bestiality and become one who can subdue. In both Animal Crossing and Genesis there is approved environmental destruction on the indefinable metaphysical concept of manhood. According to both Animal Crossing and Genesis if one just holds the nebulous concept of manhood they have to right to go about wanton environmental destruction.

The influence of Animal Crossing and Genesis cannot be understated with Animal Crossing: New Horizons alone having sold 42.79 million units and the Bible having sold many more units than that. The encouragement of environmental destruction is wide spread and is counter to humanity’s need to combat climate change.

But why worry about all of this, I still need to collect around 100,000 bells to pay off my most recent home loan or I could just switch to playing Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild.