Coconuts, Custom-Play & COVID-19: Social Isolation, Serious Leisure and Personas in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Abstract

This paper discusses Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ (ACNH) release during the COVID-19 pandemic, and draws upon responses from nearly 2000 players to frame how the game acts as a platform for routine substitution and social connectivity in a disconnected physical world. A combination of the game’s elements, including its comforting aesthetic, participatory community, financial mechanics, and goal-setting, promotes the player’s construction of their sense of self and provides crucial stability. In contrast to other life simulator games such as The Sims, the timing of ACNH’s release makes its substitution efforts more adoptable by a wide spectrum of players between casual and hardcore sensibilities.
 Moreover, the game substitutes some complex face-to-face interactions during self-isolation and it affords stability and routine through a simulacrum of real-life, however exaggerated and narrowed in scope. The gameplay provides player agency and self-determination of playstyle as well as routines that contrast with the intense disruption of the everyday by the pandemic. Players’ shared affinities and engagement with the game function as a form of serious leisure which in turn creates personas from a diverse range of roles such as, the social player, the turnip trader, the gardener, the artisan. The persona roles enable players to adopt multiple recognisable specialisations within an expansive social environment. In essence, players of ACNH create an array of malleable, interchangeable gaming personas that successfully embody the routine and social play forcibly absent from real life during the pandemic.

“I need to just have a couple of White claws and play animal crossing tonight”: Parents coping with video games during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“…Mom Flora described her AC:NH tasks as a “daily part of a routine that just helped soothe anxiety.” Dad Steve said that he “gravitated” toward the “predictability” of his daily tasks. This sense of routine has been found in other AC:NH studies (Barr & Copeland-Stewart, 2021), being the highest rated motivation for adult AC:NH players (Comerford, 2021).…”

“…Indeed, individuals increased their use of mediated communication during the pandemic, which was beneficial for well-being (Brown & Greenfield, 2021; Gabbiadini et al, 2020). This included video games, which is not surprising, as the sociability affordance of video games is well documented (Jiow et al, 2017), even during the COVID-19 pandemic (Cmentowski & Krüger, 2020; Nebel & Ninaus, 2020), particularly with AC:NH (Comerford, 2021; Kleinman et al, 2021; Ng, 2021). We also note that other work has found that social aspects of video game play can enhance video game-related coping and recovery (Collins & Cox, 2014).…”

“…AC:NH is an immersive game with a narrative, which Reinecke (2009) finds is important for recovery. It is a leisurely game that involves mundane activities (Comerford, 2021; Kim, 2014; Straznickas, 2020). The player takes on a role of the resident representative as they move to a deserted island, where they start collecting resources and learn skills to create different objects using those resources.…”

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

“…Family video game playing can provide routine ( Gee, Siyahhan, & Cirell, 2017 ). Playing AC:NH provided adults with a routine for pandemic coping ( Barr & Copeland-Stewart, 2021 ; Comerford, 2021 ; Kleinman et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Multiple features of AC:NH make it a particularly good video game to facilitate coping. Animal Crossing games are described as leisurely and mundane ( Comerford, 2021 ; Khan, 2020 ; Kim, 2014 ; Straznickas, 2020 ; Zhu, 2020 ). Playing a game like AC:NH may be tied to some coping behaviors.…”