Received: 16 July 2020 Revised: 25 July 2020 Accepted: 3 August 2020

DOI: 10.1002/hbe2.221

CASE STUDY

The psychology behind video games during COVID-19

pandemic: A case study of Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Lin Zhu

Department of Educational and Counseling

Psychology, University at Albany, Albany,
New York
Correspondence
Lin Zhu, Division of Educational Psychology
and Methodology, University at Albany, State
University of New York, 1400 Washington
Avenue, Albany 12222, NY.
Email: lzhu5@albany.edu
Peer Review
The peer review history for this article is
available at https://publons.com/publon/10.
1002/hbe2.221.
Abstract
With the emerging outbreak of a novel coronavirus, millions of people have been
followed social distancing rules to self-quarantine at home. Given the continuation of
this pandemic trend, people who have suffered from the anxiety of coronavirus and
experienced social isolation their psychological well-being started to be concerned.
During this time, one popular video game called “Animal Crossing: New Horizons”
successfully get everyone's attention and led us to explore the psychology behind
video games. On the one hand, New Horizons provides a dreamland for the players
to temporally escape from the cruel reality with a risk of losing in escapism. On the
other hand, the New Horizons world becomes a perfect social platform to keep social
interaction with others to get rid of the loneliness.

KEYWORDS

Animal Crossing, coronavirus, COVID-19, escapism, loneliness, New Horizons, psychological

well-being, social isolation, video game

1 | OVERVIEW OF PHENOMENON
In the past several months, many of us are either experiencing lock-
down or voluntarily following the social distancing rules to minimize
our time spent outside due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Fighting the epidemic is a serious matter. Comparing with the impor-
tance that people attached to the epidemic trend and healthcare, the
release of a video game seems trivial to notice. However, Animal
Crossing: New Horizons, a life simulation video game, brought unex-
pected magic to get the public attention and let us rethink the psy-
chology behind the game.
New Horizons is the fifth main series title in the Animal Crossing
series. It is developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo
Switch, released in all regions on March 20, 2020. As in previous
installments in the Animal Crossing series, Animal Crossing: New Hori-
zons is a nonlinear life simulation game played in real-time. In New
Horizons, a player assumes the role of a customizable character who
moves to a deserted island to build and expand their home by granting
a loan, exploring their surroundings, interacting with a cast of adorable
animal villagers, catching bugs, collecting fish, designing their own
fashion, growing flowers, participating in annual events, and much
more. The game proceeds in an open-ended fashion and develops it
into a community of anthropomorphic animals. Players can also have
social interaction with other players online, which is one of the most
attractive parts of the game.
New Horizons have received massively popularity and acclaim
from game players and critics all over the world. It sold five million
digital copies in its first month, breaking the console game record for
most digital units sold in a single month. It became the best-selling
game in the Animal Crossing series after 6 weeks with 13.41 million
units sold (Wikipedia, 2020). At press time, the Nintendo Switch has
been sold out almost everywhere online and in-store at many popular
retailers.
2 | T H E P S Y C H O L O G Y B E H I ND
T H E “G A M E ”
Many critics attribute its popularity to the “right timing.” As
Khan (2020) stated in The New York Times, the success has been

Hum Behav & Emerg Tech. 2021;3:157–159. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hbe2 © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC 157
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partially attributed to its release during the COVID-19 pandemic, with
players seeking a sense of escapism in their self-quarantine at home.
Indeed, New Horizons could not have come at a better time. Or rather,
we can just consider the game world as the “La-la land,” a sort of
escape that has captivated in our fantasies with the world in the grip
of the epidemic; or, it plays an unexpected role to provide comfort
and social connection in a time of isolation and struggle. Therefore, it
is not hard to discover the two main psychological success behind this
phenomenon: first, it captures people's instinctive to escape from
realistic difficulties and their yearning to chase a peaceful and harmo-
nious life; then, it satisfies people's unwillingness to be lonely and
their deep inner desire for the social interaction to get rid of the
loneliness.
3 | A D R EA M LA N D OR A TE M P O RA R Y
ESCAPE?
If there is a dreamland to escape from the coronavirus, video game
must be one. In New Horizons, players take the role of the only
human being who lives on an island surrounded by pudgy anthropo-
morphic animals. Inside the game world, there are no mountains of
work and demanding bosses; you do not have to worry about that
tomorrow might be the day to hand in your homework; of course,
there is also no exact date on which you should pay back what you
owe; most importantly, there is no disaster and disease exists, it is
like a haven that keeps you away from COVID-19. The game is
played at a relaxed pace, in which the player can choose what they
want to do on any given day. “There's no nastiness and violence that
exists. They get absorbed into the day-to-day things without the
real-world consequences,” said Romana Ramzan, a lecturer at Glas-
gow Caledonian University in Scotland. “It's like you've been trans-
ported to a parallel universe where you've always wanted but hard
to reach out” (Khan, 2020). Compare to the everyday pressure you
have to face from reality, who would not want to live in this
dreamland?
However, from the other point of view, this dreamland only pro-
vides a virtual world over the cloud that allowing you to escape from
the cruel reality temporarily, eventually, this escapism could not last
long after all. This delicate relationship represents a microcosm of
the psychological problems that people experience in real life.
According to Hussain and Griffiths (2009), over one-third of gamers
claimed that relaxation and escape was a key function of playing. In
another study of online gaming, the best predictor of a high score on
Young (1998) for Internet addiction was escapism, indicating that
players use online games to avoid thinking about real-life problems.
Players who have the motivation to escape from life problems may
experience more negative outcomes from their online gaming
(Kardefelt-Winther, 2014). In our case, New Horizons may temporar-
ily play a “shelter” role to provide a simple happy life to the players;
however, the negative outcomes of escapism that may affect peo-
ple's psychological well-being should be concerned in future studies
as well.
ZHU
4 | “O N L Y ” B U T N O T L O N EL Y
Social interaction is another highlight of the game's success, and it is
highly related to ones' psychological well-being to get rid of the
loneliness. Even being the only human on the island in the game
does not mean that you have to live alone there. The most fascinat-
ing part of the game is that the players can continue to socialize vir-
tually even they remain in physical isolation for long periods during
the COVID-19 pandemic. As we all know, social isolation has
significant implications for mental and physical health. There is one
meta-analysis estimates that loneliness and social isolation can
be as damaging to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day
(Edwards, 2013). Research has shown that people who experienced
socially isolated may get a greater risk of becoming lonely and that
being surrounded by a social network of meaningful personal rela-
tionships is crucial for feeling socially embedded and for the allevia-
tion of loneliness (De Jong Gierveld, Van Tilburg, & Dykstra, 2006).
The benefits of playing games with others online have been
highlighted in research by Cole and Griffiths (2007). They found that
75% of the participants made appropriate pals due to taking part in
online games and 30% met a romantic associate via a game. These
friendships are often of excessive-quality, with over one in three
people pointing out that they talk to their online friends about prob-
lems that they would not speak to their offline friends
(Platinum, 2020). New Horizons provides a perfect social platform to
expand personal relationships with others no matter for the intro-
verts or extraverts. The gamers not only can invite others to their
islands to trade items but also can talk and hang out virtually. There
are even real stories of people having weddings on the game after
their ceremonies had been canceled in real life. It is a thoughtful
way to make memories and have some laughs during the time they
cannot in person. New Horizons fulfills the players' desire to con-
tinue social contact with each other during the COVID-19 epidemic
and further reducing their feelings of loneliness.
5 | CONC LU SION
The coronavirus outbreak has put a heavy stone onto everyone's
shoulder and everyone is trying their best to cope with it in their own
way. As a global epidemic, it has brought too many painful memories.
The pressure and anxiety caused by the fear of viruses in real life
make people pay more attention to mental health problems.
Video games have always appeared to the public with a relatively
negative image. However, in this crisis, their players in some ways are
benefited. New Horizons has opened the door to a parallel world,
bought spiritual comfort and sustenance to their fans. People can eas-
ily find calm and peace in the game and escape from the suffering of
reality to alleviate psychological anxiety and depression. However, at
the same time, the negative outcomes of escapism that affect people's
psychological well-being should be concerned in future studies. In the
game, continuing social interaction with old friends or making new fri-
ends could be a relaxing and fun way to stay connected with loved
ZHU
ones and helps people to get rid of the loneliness caused by social iso-
lation. Overall, during the COVID-19 pandemic, no matter the experi-
ences of anxiety and escapism, or the social isolation and loneliness,
New Horizons made us realize the psychology behind video games has
far more than we have already known. In front, more treasures are
waiting to be explored for future studies.
ORCID
Lin Zhu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9288-3503
RE FE R ENC E S
Cole, H., & Griffiths, M. D. (2007). Social interactions in massively multiplayer
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De Jong Gierveld, J., Van Tilburg, T., & Dykstra, P. A. (2006). Loneliness
and social isolation. In Cambridge Handbook of Personal Relationships
(pp. 485–500). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Lin Zhu is a graduate student in Educational
and Methodology Psychology at University at
Albany. She holds her two Bachelor's degrees
in Management and Informatics Sciences
from both Dalian University of Foreign Lan-
guages, China, and Josai International Univer-
sity, Japan. Lin Zhu is fluent in English,
Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese. Prior to her study at University
at Albany, she used to work in the marketing department in sev-
eral companies in East Asia and the Middle East. Lin Zhu's current
research interests include cross-cultural and gender differences in
human development studies. Recently, her research mainly
focuses on the complex relationship between video games and
psychological well-being. For the future research direction, she
may continue to expand the research field from video games to a
variety of emerging technologies, from a psychological perspec-
tive to strategies of mediating the conflict between technology
use and human development. Ultimately, her research would aim
to use the positive side of technologies to help people gain knowl-
edge, overcome psychological difficulties, and have a better
understanding of themselves.
How to cite this article: Zhu L. The psychology behind video
games during COVID-19 pandemic: A case study of Animal
Crossing: New Horizons. Hum Behav & Emerg Tech. 2021;3:
157–159. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbe2.221