Games often empower the player to push boundaries with revolutionary powers, compelling stories, and otherworldly gameplay. It is quite remarkable, then, that the Animal Crossing series entertains the player without over-the-top drama or action. It is a simple life simulation series that allows the player to cultivate and customize a small town. Its gameplay is approachably simple; the player typically fishes, catches bugs, chats with neighbors, plants flowers, and buys items. Even though such gameplay is somewhat repetitive, its inherently satisfying nature keeps the player coming back for more. This review will celebrate the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons by applying the Job Characteristics Theory to the Animal Crossing series. Doing so will convey why the series’s gameplay is so engrossingly fun. The Job Characteristics Theory is one of the most influential theories of work motivation, and it explains five aspects of work that can make tasks intrinsically satisfying. As a life simulator, Animal Crossing embodies all five aspects of the Job Characteristics Theory in its gameplay. Thus, this review offers a theory-based analysis as to why Animal Crossing works so well.
Task significance
Task significance is one of the five factors of the Job Characteristics Theory. It argues that the significance or meaning behind completing a given task helps that task become intrinsically motivating. Many of Animal Crossing’s classic gameplay mechanics offer valuable ramifications to their completion, thus intrinsically motivating the player to engage such gameplay. Right from the start, the player is encouraged to take charge of the island to help it prosper. Thus, the player wields an unstated responsibility to elevate the island because, in all honesty, none of the other NPC islanders are going to do so. As a result, the player finds meaning and purpose in his/her efforts to beautify the island, attract new residents, and create a happy living environment. By entrusting the sole power of improving the island onto the player, he/she is subsequently intrinsically motivated. Every fruit planted, resident greeted, holiday celebrated, and resource gathered are significant tasks from their direct effects on actualizing the series’s unstated goal: to cultivate a worthwhile place to live.
Autonomy
Autonomy expands upon task significance, and refers to the intrinsic motivation evoked from tackling work in one’s desired way or order. Thus, to reach a significant goal, the player can act in a variety of self-directed methods. Animal Crossing offers such choice in almost all of its scripted and unscripted goals. The player can choose an assortment of gameplay to meet those goals, such as choosing to plant flowers or coconut trees to beautify the town. The town tune, assortment of home decorations, and town name are all personally decided, thereby earning the player’s consideration from their personalization. An important component of player autonomy is autonomy of pacing. The player can approach a given goal at his/her desired rate. If the player wishes to pay Tom Nook’s home loan back in one day, they can do so; alternatively, if the player wishes to pay the loan back over a month, they can do so as well. There are no formal time limits in Animal Crossing, which not only enhances the series’s relaxing atmosphere, but additionally grants player autonomy as to when each of the personally selected tasks will be chosen. Such freedom of choice intrinsically motivates the player to engage gameplay, subsequently garnering player commitment and satisfaction.
Skill variety
Such volitional gameplay would not be nearly as satisfying, however, if it did not utilize the different skills from the player. Skill variety is another component of the Job Characteristics Theory, and it describes how tasks are more intrinsically motivating if they tap into multiple skills or abilities. After all, the repetition of completing the same behavior with the same skills ad nauseum can be draining. Animal Crossing’s gameplay is successful because, while each individual gameplay mechanic is repetitive, the series offers enough variety of gameplay mechanics to keep the player engaged. For example, the player can choose fish to earn some Bells. Fishing is an engaging gameplay mechanic from the attentional and reflexive skills it demands. After a while, though, the player can become tired of fishing. As a result, he/she can catch bugs, collect seashells, or collect fruit. All of these different gameplay options require different skills in resource management, visuospatial navigation, and strategic planning. Thus, the player can work towards in-game goals by continually applying a variety of his/her skills. This fuller utilization of the player’s skillsets is an intrinsically satisfying process because he/she is more holistically engaged with the gameplay.
Task identity
Animal Crossing intelligently allows the player to tackle significant goals in an autonomous and varied approach. The key to executing such directed behavior is that the series allows the player to complete goals in their entirety. Task Identify is another component of the Job Characteristics Theory, and it refers to this process. It explains how tasks are more intrinsically motivating if they can be fully completed from point A to B. In other words, it is satisfying to complete an entire unit of work because the player can more easily understand and identify with his/her contributions. Donations to the museum exemplifies task identity, A predominant goal of the series is to donate insects, fish, fossils, and sometimes paintings to the local museum so that its exhibits become more and more expansive. Although such donations are not formally required, the player often donates his/her materials because it is inherently satisfying to produce a vibrant and thriving display of his/her town’s culture. Filling the museum utilizes task identity because the player can see how each donation slowly transforms the museum from a hollow husk into a complete cornucopia of exhibits. After donating a Red Snapper, for example, the player can instantly run to the fish exhibit to see how this specimen adds to the current assortment of fish on display. Most goals in Animal Crossing can be completed entirely by the player’s own doing. Thus, the player’s accountability produces the intrinsic motivation to fully complete goals through gameplay in an incrementally satisfying and entertaining process.
Feedback
Task identity is intrinsically motivating because it communicates to the player that his/her contributions are impactful. Such communication is one example of feedback, the last component of the Job Characteristics Theory. This kind of feedback does not originate from a superior, but from the task itself. In other words, tasks are more intrinsically motivating if they offer incremental updates on how the player’s performance aligns with desired performance. Planting flowers is one task in Animal Crossing that utilizes visual feedback to intrinsically motivate behavior. When gardening, the player envisions how he/she should arrange flowers. The player can then enact this vision by planting and moving flowers in the planned way. Each time a flower is positioned, the game clearly displays how this given flower looks in relation to nearby buildings, flowers, rocks, etc. Thus, the subjective beauty of the player’s original plan is visually displayed and understood. Such feedback motivates the player to correct unexpected outcomes of the given flower arrangement. Another example of feedback is how hitting rocks for money produces a sharp CLANG sound effect. This auditory cue communicates to the player that he/she successfully hit the rock, thus intrinsically motivating further behaviors of hitting the rock again or collecting money that spewed from the rock. These examples illustrate how immediate feedback from a given task can inform and motivate further gameplay, thus adding to the series’s addictive gameplay feedback loop.
Conclusion
While not entirely explanatory, the Job Characteristics Theory helps provide some of the context and processes behind Animal Crossing’s intrinsically satisfying gameplay. Task significance, autonomy, skill variety, task identity, and feedback all appear in the series, thus intrinsically motivating the player to engage its mechanics. Animal Crossing is a seemingly innocuous franchise. Across its almost twenty years, however, players all around the world have become addicted to strangely simple behaviors of fishing, catching bugs, and expanding homes. The success of such tasks lies not in the tasks themselves, but the intrinsic motivation that those tasks evoke within the player. Animal Crossing demonstrates that creative, intelligent game design can turn any task into intrinsically motivating gameplay that earns player commitment and enjoyment.
Comments