scholarly journals Borders in Motion: An application related to the video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Behailu Shiferaw Benti ◽  
Georg Stadtmann
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Game Animal

scholarly journals Video game play is positively correlated with well-being

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 202049
Author(s):  
Niklas Johannes ◽  
Matti Vuorre ◽  
Andrew K. Przybylski
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Need Satisfaction ◽  
Game Play ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Video Game Play ◽  
Play Behaviour ◽  
Adequate Data

People have never played more video games, and many stakeholders are worried that this activity might be bad for players. So far, research has not had adequate data to test whether these worries are justified and if policymakers should act to regulate video game play time. We attempt to provide much-needed evidence with adequate data. Whereas previous research had to rely on self-reported play behaviour, we collaborated with two games companies, Electronic Arts and Nintendo of America, to obtain players' actual play behaviour. We surveyed players of Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and Animal Crossing: New Horizons for their well-being, motivations and need satisfaction during play, and merged their responses with telemetry data (i.e. logged game play). Contrary to many fears that excessive play time will lead to addiction and poor mental health, we found a small positive relation between game play and affective well-being. Need satisfaction and motivations during play did not interact with play time but were instead independently related to well-being. Our results advance the field in two important ways. First, we show that collaborations with industry partners can be done to high academic standards in an ethical and transparent fashion. Second, we deliver much-needed evidence to policymakers on the link between play and mental health.

scholarly journals New Social Horizons: Anxiety, Isolation, and Animal Crossing During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna E. Lewis ◽  
Mia Trojovsky ◽  
Molly M. Jameson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Simulation Game ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Emotional Outcomes ◽  
Social Gaming ◽  
The Impact

Increased participation in activities has been associated with improved positive mental health outcomes. However, there is much debate regarding the net effects of video games on individuals. Typified as a socially isolating activity, many games inherently contain socialization within the environment with game-generated characters or other players. Coinciding with the time of the initial pandemic/quarantine period was the release of a popular socializing and life simulation game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. We investigated whether participation in this game was related to emotional outcomes associated with pandemics (e.g., loneliness and anxiety). The relationship between deleterious mental health and social gaming, amid a time of enforced reduction in socializing, would allow us to isolate the impact of the introduction of a social video game on improving the quality of life for players of this game. Participants (n = 1053) were asked about their time spent playing video games via an online survey, their socialization in game play, loneliness, and anxiety. We predicted that participants with higher levels of social interaction within the game would report less loneliness and anxiety. Utilizing multiple linear regression analyses, the research found that increased gaming and related activities were predictive of higher anxiety and somewhat related to increased loneliness. However, increased visits to another island were associated with lower levels of loneliness. As such, players may be utilizing gaming as a coping mechanism for anxiety. This research may inform generalized research regarding the influence that social games may have on feelings of loneliness and anxiety.

scholarly journals On the environment-destructive probabilistic trends: a perceptual and behavioral study on video game players

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quan-Hoang Vuong ◽  
Manh-Toan Ho ◽  
Minh-Hoang Nguyen ◽  
Thanh-Hang Pham ◽  
Ho Hoang Anh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Simulation Game ◽  
Behavioral Study ◽  
Environmental Perceptions ◽  
Unique Case ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Game Environment ◽  
The Relationship

Currently, gaming is the world’s favorite form of entertainment. Various studies have shown how games impact players' perceptions and behaviors, prompting opportunities for purposes beyond entertainment. This study uses Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH)—a real-time life-simulation game—as a unique case study of how video games can affect humans' environmental perceptions. A dataset of 584 observations from a survey of ACNH players and the Hamiltonian MCMC technique has enabled us to explore the relationship between in-game behaviors and perceptions. The findings indicate a probabilistic trend towards exploiting the in-game environment despite players' perceptions, suggesting that the simplification of commercial game design may overlook opportunities to engage players in pro-environmental activities.

scholarly journals Families Playing Animal Crossing Together: Coping With Video Games During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 155541202110561
Author(s):  
Katy E. Pearce ◽  
Jason C. Yip ◽  
Jin Ha Lee ◽  
Jesse J. Martinez ◽  
Travis W. Windleharth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Family Coping ◽  
Communal Coping ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
The Family ◽  
Related Stress

The COVID-19 pandemic was stressful for everyone, particularly for families who had to supervise and support children, facilitate remote schooling, and manage work and home life. We consider how families coped with pandemic-related stress using the video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Combining a family coping framework with theorizing about media as a coping tool, this interview study of 27 families (33 parents and 37 children) found that parents and children individual coped with pandemic-related stress with media. Parents engaged in protective buffering of their children with media, taking on individual responsibility to cope with a collective problem. Families engaged in communal coping, whereby media helped the family cope with a collective problem, taking on shared ownership and responsibility. We provide evidence for video games as coping tools, but with the novel consideration of family coping with media.

scholarly journals On the environment-destructive probabilistic trends: a perceptual and behavioral study on video game players

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quan-Hoang Vuong ◽  
Manh-Toan Ho ◽  
Minh-Hoang Nguyen ◽  
Thanh-Hang Pham ◽  
Ho Hoang Anh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Simulation Game ◽  
Behavioral Study ◽  
Environmental Perceptions ◽  
Unique Case ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Game Environment ◽  
The Relationship

Currently, gaming is the world’s favorite form of entertainment. Various studies have shown how games impact players' perceptions and behaviors, prompting opportunities for purposes beyond entertainment. This study uses Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH)—a real-time life-simulation game—as a unique case study of how video games can affect humans' environmental perceptions. A dataset of 584 observations from a survey of ACNH players and the Hamiltonian MCMC technique has enabled us to explore the relationship between in-game behaviors and perceptions. The findings indicate a probabilistic trend towards exploiting the in-game environment despite players' perceptions, suggesting that the simplification of commercial game design may overlook opportunities to engage players in pro-environmental activities.

scholarly journals Video game play is positively correlated with well-being

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Johannes ◽  
Matti Vuorre ◽  
Andrew K Przybylski
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Need Satisfaction ◽  
Game Play ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Video Game Play ◽  
Play Behaviour ◽  
Adequate Data

People have never played more video games and many stakeholders are worried that this activity might be bad for players. So far, research has not had adequate data to test whether these worries are justified and if policymakers should act to regulate video game play time. We attempt to provide much-needed evidence with adequate data. Whereas previous research had to rely on self-reported play behaviour, we collaborated with two games companies, Electronic Arts and Nintendo of America, to obtain players’ actual play behaviour. We surveyed players of Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and Animal Crossing: New Horizons for their well-being, motivations, and need satisfaction during play and merged their responses with telemetry data (i.e., logged game play). Contrary to many fears that excessive game time will lead to addiction and poor mental health, we found a small positive relation between game play and well-being. Need satisfaction and motivations during play did not interact with game time but were instead independently related to well-being. Our results advance the field in two important ways. First, we show that collaborations with industry partners can be done to high academic standards in an ethical and transparent fashion. Second, we deliver much-needed evidence to policymakers on the link between play and mental health.

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