Places, People, Practices, and Play: Animal Crossing New Horizons Here and There

Animal Crossing: New Horizons serves as a vital pedagogical platform for fostering cross-cultural dialogue and environmental awareness among university students in Japan and the United Kingdom. By utilizing the game as a convivial tool, the project addresses the erasure of place often inherent in globalized digital environments, particularly during the isolation necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The central thesis posits that virtual spaces can function as a digital commons, enabling participants to bridge significant geographical divides while critically examining their personal ecosophies and local environmental realities.

The study demonstrates that collaborative play and the establishment of shared in-game policies facilitate deep reflection on complex topics such as sustainability, property rights, and community ethics. Through the integration of game-based activity with critical discourse analysis, students successfully articulated their individual philosophies regarding ecological values. These findings suggest that virtual environments provide a unique, low-stakes setting for students to engage with real-world social and environmental challenges, transforming the game from a mere leisure activity into a structured space for academic and ethical inquiry.

Ultimately, the project concludes that the efficacy of such digital initiatives relies heavily on the alignment of pedagogical goals and the active facilitation of dialogue by educators. Despite logistical and technical hurdles, the use of interactive digital spaces proves to be a robust method for promoting international collaboration and critical thinking. By grounding these virtual interactions in the context of local identity and environmental conservation, the research highlights a scalable model for future educational practices that seek to harmonize global connectivity with a nuanced understanding of local place-based ethics.