Warning: This article contains spoilers
“Progress! What progress is there? We've removed the river. We've destroyed nature. We've driven out the animals!” says Snufkin to the park keeper in Moominvalley Melody.
The recently released video game Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley shows the continued rise in video games involving the climate and ecological crisis. However, unlike other games, the plot of Moominvalley Melody is about “recovering harmony with nature,” as stated in the trailer.
The story begins with Snufkin leaving Moomintroll during hibernation. When Snufkin returns in the spring, he finds no animals (and those that remain are either frightened or actively fleeing), dry rivers, and scattered forests that have been deforested. It becomes clear early on that something is wrong with Moominvalley.
Restoring harmony with nature against exploitative forces is key to gameplay and narrative. Moomin's hibernation patterns have been exploited to allow construction and deforestation to take place while he sleeps during the winter.
In fact, as the game progresses, the player discovers that the river has been dammed to help irrigate a newly constructed park across the valley. This effort was commissioned and carried out by another Moomin, a park administrator with a grand vision of what progress should look like.
Throughout the game, players must help Snufkin navigate and increase his inspiration level (similar to “experience points” or XP in other games) to complete tasks. Engaging with nature can increase your inspiration, for example by running through the bush or playing music for animals. This mechanic intentionally forces players to interact with nature in order to free Moominvalley from exploitative park management.
Two themes run through the Moominvalley melodies, representing challenges associated with the dominant way we understand our connection to nature in the West.
First, the idea that nature will find its own harmony and ecological balance without significant human interference runs through Moomin's history. This is evidenced by the long and successful coexistence of Moomins and animals in Moominvalley before park management became involved.
As prominent environmentalist groups have often declared, humans (in this case the Anglo-centric capitalist Moomins) appear to be the main problem. Throughout the game, each park must be destroyed by Snufkin, after which cutscenes (additional videos that pop up) show different trees and flowers thriving. This means that removing human interference heals nature.
The plot also neatly shows how competing visions of a desirable future are embedded in the formation and shaping of our daily lives and relationships with nature. The park keeper believed that what he was doing was the right thing for Moominvalley. By the end of the game, he realizes the importance of living in harmony and balance with nature. His perspective changes dramatically.
While playing as the human Snufkin, we as players are encouraged to think about our own relationship with nature. Snufkin's wandering traits and ecocentric tendencies led him to restore nature for reasons other than the essential beauty and balance of Moominvalley and its inhabitants. We believe this is in contrast to the extraction, command, and control of nature that is often depicted in other games such as Sid Meier's Civilization VI or the Fallout series.
Video game framing not only simplifies the challenges we face, but also plays an important role in recognizing the value of nature and questioning our existing relationships with the ecological world. .
In Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, nature, music and art are sources of inspiration, and a more careful and considerate relationship with nature is shown through Snufkin's intentions and the subsequent change of heart of the park keeper. and develop a perspective that supports responsible relationships.
Another game, Abzu, ironically involves us with underwater life and its exploitation by technology, while playing as a robot. Unlike Melody of Moominvalley, it takes us beyond the simple argument that humans should not interfere with nature and that technology is bad for the environment. Instead, I try to show that the main cause of the problem lies in the characteristics of this relationship.
In 2019, Arenda Chan, in her book Playing Nature: Ecology in Video Games, argues that video games can more fruitfully address ecological challenges through future-making, consideration of scale, and non-human perspectives. We have outlined the various ways in which we support you. And she criticizes. Video games can and do connect people with the potential for environmental restoration.
Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley simplifies the complex politics of nature restoration. Destroying a park easily restores nature, which has many benefits as it becomes central to the game's story. Our challenging relationship with nature is becoming more mainstream in social and cultural spheres through video games. There is much promise in using video games to illuminate and explain the complex challenges of climate and ecosystem change.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Elliot Honeybun-Arnolda is the author of Publics for Nature and Society, an ongoing collaboration between the University of East Anglia and Natural England's Science, Society and Sustainability (3S) research group.・I am a member of the Engagement Laboratory.
Lucas Frissche does not work for, consult, own shares in, or receive funding from any company or organization that might benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations other than an academic appointment. has not been made clear either.
