OCR Animal Crossing Audience

A complete OCR A-Level Media Studies lesson exploring audience experience, accessibility, representation and engagement in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

This fully editable PowerPoint (.pptx) lesson focuses on Animal Crossing: New Horizons as the OCR A-Level Media Studies video game set text for Paper 2: Evolving Media, Section A – Media Industries and Audiences. OCR specifies Animal Crossing: New Horizons for study in relation to media industries, media audiences, and economic and social contexts.

The lesson explores how Animal Crossing: New Horizons creates varied audience experiences through entertainment, creativity, crafting, trading, challenges, chat, accessibility, customisation, virtual events and online community interaction. Students consider how audience engagement can influence video game production, especially through representation, updates, patches, DLC, modding, hacking and player feedback.

The lesson also refers to a supporting article resource document, allowing students to explore audience experiences and representation in more depth through article-based discussion and analysis.

Students analyse how customisation and avatar design support identity expression, inclusivity and representation. They also explore how virtual events, protests, memorials, graduations and funerals gave players a sense of belonging, control and community, particularly during lockdown and wider social disruption.

This lesson covers:

OCR A-Level Media Studies
Paper 2: Evolving Media
Section A: Media Industries and Audiences
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Video games
Audience experience
Audience engagement
Active audiences
Accessibility
Representation
Customisation
Avatars
Inclusivity
Identity expression
Gender fluidity
Community interaction
Virtual events
Online communities
Lockdown and COVID-19 context
Gillette Venus representation article
DLC
Patches
Updates
Hacking
Modding
Video game production
Audience influence
Uses and Gratifications

What is included:

Fully editable PowerPoint (.pptx) lesson
Supporting article resource document for audience experience and representation
Do Now task on audience experiences in video games
Teacher feedback/model answer slide
Lesson objectives
Key terminology linked to simulation genre
Article discussion task on representation and inclusivity
Feedback slide on customisation, skin types, identity and belonging
Virtual events active talk task
Feedback on protests, memorials, graduations, funerals and community participation
Accessibility discussion task on ease of play and casual audiences
Key definitions for DLC, patches, updates, hacking and modding
Exam-style question on audience experience, belonging, control and identity
Sentence starters for structured written response
Peer assessment criteria using OCR-style language
WWW and EBI feedback prompts
Plenary discussion on hacking/modding and Nintendo’s response