How Immersiveness Shapes the Link Between Anthropocentric Values and Resource Exploitation in Virtual Worlds

The Anthropocene is characterized by escalating ecological crises rooted not only in technological and economic systems but also in deeply ingrained anthropocentric worldviews that shape human-nature relationships. As digital environments increasingly mediate these interactions, video games provide novel contexts for examining the psychological mechanisms underlying environmental behaviors. This study investigates how anthropocentric values are associated with resource-exploiting behaviors in virtual ecosystems–specifically, fishing, bug catching, and tree cutting–and how immersiveness moderates these relationships. Employing the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) to analyze data from 640 Animal Crossi,g: New Horizons (ACNH) players across 29 countries, the study reveals complex links between anthropocentric worldviews and in-game behaviors. Fishing and tree-cutting frequencies are positively associated with anthropocentrism, whereas immersiveness weakens the association between tree cutting and anthropocentrism. Bug-catching frequency shows no direct effect but exhibits a growing negative association with anthropocentrism as immersiveness increases. These findings extend environmental psychology into virtual ecologies, illustrating how digital interactions both reflect and reshape environmental values. They highlight the potential of immersive gameplay to cultivate the Nature Quotient (NQ) and foster an eco-surplus culture through reflective, conservation-oriented engagement.

💡 Research Summary

This study investigates the complex relationship between anthropocentric worldviews and resource exploitation behaviors within a virtual ecosystem, using the popular life-simulation game “Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH)” as its research context. It addresses a critical gap in environmental psychology by examining how a specific psychological construct—anthropocentrism, the belief that humans are the central focus of value—translates into concrete virtual actions, and how the subjective experience of immersion moderates this relationship.

The research is grounded in the Granular Interaction Thinking Theory (GITT), which conceptualizes the mind as an information-processing system seeking cognitive equilibrium. Within this framework, anthropocentrism acts as a cognitive filter, shaping how players perceive and interact with virtual nature. Immersiveness is theorized to function through two potential pathways: an amplification pathway, where deep immersion reduces real-world constraints and allows core beliefs to manifest more strongly, and an attenuation pathway, where immersion shifts focus to in-game goals and mechanics, temporarily overriding value-based decision-making.

The analysis utilized a pre-existing, peer-reviewed dataset of 640 ACNH players from 29 countries. Key variables included players’ self-reported anthropocentric values, the frequency of three exploitative behaviors (fishing, bug catching, tree cutting), and their perceived level of game immersiveness. To model the intricate interplay between these factors, the study employed the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF), a methodology suited for analyzing complex psychological processes with multi-layered conditional relationships.

The findings revealed nuanced associations:

1. A positive direct relationship was found between anthropocentrism and the frequencies of both fishing and tree-cutting behaviors.
2. No direct relationship was observed between anthropocentrism and bug-catching frequency.
3. Immersiveness significantly moderated these relationships. Specifically, higher levels of immersiveness weakened the positive association between anthropocentrism and tree cutting, suggesting an attenuating effect where game progression goals may supersede worldview.
4. For bug catching, a more complex pattern emerged: as immersiveness increased, the association with anthropocentrism became progressively more negative. This indicates that highly immersed players with lower anthropocentric tendencies engaged more in bug catching.

The study makes significant theoretical contributions by isolating anthropocentrism from broader environmental attitudes and empirically testing its virtual behavioral correlates. Methodologically, it demonstrates the utility of the BMF and the value of commercial game data for ecological behavioral research. Practically, the results underscore that virtual environments are not mere mirrors of real-world values but dynamic spaces where beliefs interact with psychological states like immersion. This insight highlights the potential of intentionally designed, immersive gameplay to serve as a tool for fostering environmental empathy, cultivating a “Nature Quotient (NQ),” and promoting an “eco-surplus culture” through reflective engagement with virtual ecologies. The research provides a foundation for leveraging digital interactions to understand and positively reshape human-nature relationships.