Catching sharks?

[Sarahlusk03]

As a certified shark lover, I'm not sure how I feel about the recent update, allowing players to fish for sharks. Sharks are a limited species, harmed by over-hunting, and although I recognize this game isn't real life, I feel like it minimizes the harm. Idk, any one else have an opinion? I'm not saying remove the update by any means, but it's not my favorite.

 

[Xara]

well i mean, we’ve been able to catch sharks in every other animal crossing game besides happy home designer. and the franchise revolves around talking animals so i think the sharks will be fine - i respect your opinion but i don’t think being able to catch sharks in a virtual game is making light or minimizing any harm done to sharks irl ;;

 

[Belle T]

Well, none of that is untrue, but I think you're a little late to the party to be upset about that. The games have a storied history of allowing you to catch a plethora of animals, including endangered species like sharks and the even more critically endangered coelacanth. And while I don't think it's helping the problem, I also don't think the game is actively contributing to it, either. The game simply acknowledges fishing as a fact of life without it being either positive or negative. In fact, you could argue the game promotes preservation when you donate them to the museum, though I think that's also a bit of a stretch.

You also have to look at the context of what role fishing plays in Animal Crossing. There isn't really a fishing industry in Animal Crossing. The villagers just catch and consume their own fish for their own purposes. So I feel there's a notable difference between the way Animal Crossing treats the subjectmatter and how it actually exists in real life.

Over-fishing and the destruction of oceanic ecosystems are real problems, not just for sharks but for a multitude of fish species. We're currently living in a time when the Asian food market is in serious danger because of the amount of fish that western nations import from them, compounding that with COVID-19 making any kind of proactive efforts difficult, and the supply simply can't meet the ever increasing demand. It's a real pickle, and one that I have no idea how or if we're even going to be able to solve it, and if we do, it won't be without a lot of compromises that severely hinder some industries and the way we interact with ocean environments in general.

But I don't think I would put absolutely any of that burden on the hands of Animal Crossing. It's just not a very productive platform, and even with New Horizons being one of the top games of the year, I don't picture it's doing even remotely the same level of harm as, say, things like Discovery's Shark Week, which have long since been criticized for their theatrical misinformation and contributing to the negative perception of sharks as inherently killer fish. (And also want to note- it's okay to enjoy Shark Week; just that it's important to be aware of its issues as well)

tl;dr I'm apathetic to it. While sharks are a particularly hot button issue right now because of their extensive media coverage, you can't really have a game with fishing elements that doesn't sort of uncomfortably skirt around the issue of irresponsible fishing practices.

 

[_Rainy_]

I haven’t eaten an animal in 5 years. I don’t believe that whale sharks and other big fish/mammals should be in aquariums. Great white sharks cannot survive in captivity. They also can’t fit in your pocket either so I take it with a grain of salt.

 

[DeltaLoraine]

In all my years of animal crossings, I have never felt the urge to catch an animal in real life like this (let alone a shark). I think it's safe to say it's just a video game and the worlds are highly separate from each other. But, to each their own! I understand where you are coming from.

 

[Belle T]

In all my years of animal crossings, I have never felt the urge to catch an animal in real life like this (let alone a shark). I think it's safe to say it's just a video game and the worlds are highly separate from each other. But, to each their own! I understand where you are coming from.

I think what the OP is trying to say is that the inclusion of shark fishing in a video game, particularly a light and child-friendly game like Animal Crossing, could potentially cause people to undermine the severity of the very real crisis of sharks being hunted to extinction. And I don't think that's an inherently invalid concern.

Generally, though, I'm not big on using "it's just a game" when it comes to discussing real world implications of popular media. The movie Jaws was, at the end of the day, just a movie, but the current threat that countless species of sharks are facing and the impact that it has on their ecosystem can be traced back almost entirely to that movie and the marketing surrounding it. And the term "Bambi effect" has been used both positively and negatively to describe trends associated with how we discuss the treatment of animals in relation to media culture.

 

[Alienfish]

Guys this is a fictional game and is by no means encouraging people to go fish for it IRL, that's taking it a bit too far.

 

[KrazyKarp]

I haven't eaten any meat (and seafood, some people distinguish them as different which is weird to me) in my entire life, and fishing in real life makes me pretty uncomfortable. That being said, I've thought about this before. What makes me feel better about it is I think of it like, when we sell fish to Timmy/Tommy and Chip, they release them back into the wild just fine through some sort of AC logic, like the logic of keeping a shark in your pockets. Because Timmy/Tommy don't need a shark, they're functioning to keep the economy moving. And Chip just needs fish for his streaming, wows his followers, then doesn't need them anymore. I think similarly about bugs and Flick, too.

However, I completely understand your sentiment behind it, and it's a really nice sentiment. Tarantella makes good points on how popular media can indeed create real-world threats to animals and the environment. It's certainly something to tread carefully about within and outside of AC.

 

[Tyconic]

As a certified shark lover, I'm not sure how I feel about the recent update, allowing players to fish for sharks. Sharks are a limited species, harmed by over-hunting, and although I recognize this game isn't real life, I feel like it minimizes the harm. Idk, any one else have an opinion? I'm not saying remove the update by any means, but it's not my favorite.

I understand where you are coming from. It's a pretty awesome perspective. However, throughout the franchise there are plenty of endangered creatures that far outweigh sharks that you can catch. I think in animal crossing it's more about learning about the animals, and not so much taking advantage of their bodies. I hope this perspective makes sense.