Animal Crossing: Turning a Space into a Place: A Reflection on the Psychogeography of Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Book chapter, 2025

This contributed chapter is an autobiographical exploration of Animal Crossing: New Horizons through the lenses of psychogeography and place attachment theory – both heavily experiential perspectives. Animal Crossing was released during the COVID-19 global pandemic and soon became a global phenomenon. The game seemed to tap into something that was missing in the physical world at that time. In this chapter, Pauline explores why Animal Crossing: New Horizons provided the opportunity to achieve a sense of place and feelings of community at a time when such opportunities were thin on the ground in reality. The game enables a player to sculpt the type of environment you need most at any point in time and provides refuge from the worries and restrictions of the physical world.