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Reference Image from the game for the suitcase design

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Reference Image from the game for the suitcase design

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Full images for the artefact are here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/5/folders/1_j5Zl0zVKMlDsnaDN6qvSjnnB9e0HLGG

A completely different outcome from what I had in mind back in December! In the end, I still used adhesive velcro and some mechanics from the PopUp channel, while there were some things that I wish I could've done better I am satisfied with the outcome. I wouldn't mind doing this again.

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The goal for the month is to get the pages modified and then coloured and hopefully print by the end of may. I have to make the suitcase cover so some time might be delayed because I will need to wait for materials to arrive. I could use recycled cardboard from packages I have at home but for a ring cover it's best to get the appropriate material, so greyboard it is.

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I received more helpful feedback, I also was able to get additional feedback throughout the week. I will send the tutor another draft before June.

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After receiving feedback I had more ideas about what to write. I was also given more academic papers to read. For the next tutorial I will have more stuff written to show to the tutor.

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April 2 - Drastic change in design for artefact book

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April 2 - Drastic change in design for artefact book

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While I was able to get an extension I properly had time to plan the book. I decided to make most of the artefact interactive instead of a pop-up book. The sketches will remain mostly the same, I will modify a few things. For instance, the pages will be on a single page instead of double spreads. The book will look like a suitcase from the game.

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January - Sharing the questionnaire online on Animal Crossing dedicated forums

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January - Sharing the questionnaire online on Animal Crossing dedicated forums

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I don't know how to share the version with all the charts, but that version is available in the dissertation paper under the appendices.

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Animal Crossing New Horizons - Dissertation Pandemic Survey  (Responses)

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November 14 - Planning how to format questionnaire

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November 14 - Planning how to format questionnaire

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Chapter Objectives
Structure Of The Chapter
The qualities of a good questionnaire
Preliminary decisions in questionnaire design
Choose the method(s) of reaching target respondents
Decide on question content
Develop the question wording
Disadvantages are also present when using such questions
Closing questions
Physical appearance of the questionnaire
Piloting the questionnaires
Chapter Summary
Key Terms
Review Questions
Chapter References

No survey can achieve success without a well-designed questionnaire. Unfortunately, questionnaire design has no theoretical base to guide the marketing researcher in developing a flawless questionnaire. All the researcher has to guide him/her is a lengthy list of do's and don'ts born out of the experience of other researchers past and present. Hence, questionnaire design is more of an art than a science.

Chapter Objectives

This chapter is intended to help the reader to:

· Understand the attributes of a well-designed questionnaire, and
· Adopt a framework for developing questionnaires.

Structure Of The Chapter

A brief account of the key attributes of a sound questionnaire serves as the opening section of the chapter. This is followed by a nine-point framework for developing an effective questionnaire. These are the only two components of this chapter on questionnaire design.

The qualities of a good questionnaire

The design of a questionnaire will depend on whether the researcher wishes to collect exploratory information (i.e. qualitative information for the purposes of better understanding or the generation of hypotheses on a subject) or quantitative information (to test specific hypotheses that have previously been generated).

Exploratory questionnaires: If the data to be collected is qualitative or is not to be statistically evaluated, it may be that no formal questionnaire is needed. For example, in interviewing the female head of the household to find out how decisions are made within the family when purchasing breakfast foodstuffs, a formal questionnaire may restrict the discussion and prevent a full exploration of the woman's views and processes. Instead one might prepare a brief guide, listing perhaps ten major open-ended questions, with appropriate probes/prompts listed under each.

Formal standardised questionnaires: If the researcher is looking to test and quantify hypotheses and the data is to be analysed statistically, a formal standardised questionnaire is designed. Such questionnaires are generally characterised by:

· prescribed wording and order of questions, to ensure that each respondent receives the same stimuli
· prescribed definitions or explanations for each question, to ensure interviewers handle questions consistently and can answer respondents' requests for clarification if they occur

· prescribed response format, to enable rapid completion of the questionnaire during the interviewing process.

Given the same task and the same hypotheses, six different people will probably come up with six different questionnaires that differ widely in their choice of questions, line of questioning, use of open-ended questions and length. There are no hard-and-fast rules about how to design a questionnaire, but there are a number of points that can be borne in mind:

1. A well-designed questionnaire should meet the research objectives. This may seem obvious, but many research surveys omit important aspects due to inadequate preparatory work, and do not adequately probe particular issues due to poor understanding. To a certain degree some of this is inevitable. Every survey is bound to leave some questions unanswered and provide a need for further research but the objective of good questionnaire design is to 'minimise' these problems.
2. It should obtain the most complete and accurate information possible. The questionnaire designer needs to ensure that respondents fully understand the questions and are not likely to refuse to answer, lie to the interviewer or try to conceal their attitudes. A good questionnaire is organised and worded to encourage respondents to provide accurate, unbiased and complete information.

3. A well-designed questionnaire should make it easy for respondents to give the necessary information and for the interviewer to record the answer, and it should be arranged so that sound analysis and interpretation are possible.

4. It would keep the interview brief and to the point and be so arranged that the respondent(s) remain interested throughout the interview.

Each of these points will be further discussed throughout the following sections. Figure 4.1 shows how questionnaire design fits into the overall process of research design that was described in chapter 1 of this textbook. It emphasises that writing of the questionnaire proper should not begin before an exploratory research phase has been completed.

Figure 4.1 The steps preceding questionnaire design

Even after the exploratory phase, two key steps remain to be completed before the task of designing the questionnaire should commence. The first of these is to articulate the questions that research is intended to address. The second step is to determine the hypotheses around which the questionnaire is to be designed.

It is possible for the piloting exercise to be used to make necessary adjustments to administrative aspects of the study. This would include, for example, an assessment of the length of time an interview actually takes, in comparison to the planned length of the interview; or, in the same way, the time needed to complete questionnaires. Moreover, checks can be made on the appropriateness of the timing of the study in relation to contemporary events such as avoiding farm visits during busy harvesting periods.

Preliminary decisions in questionnaire design

There are nine steps involved in the development of a questionnaire:

1. Decide the information required.
2. Define the target respondents.
3. Choose the method(s) of reaching your target respondents.
4. Decide on question content.
5. Develop the question wording.
6. Put questions into a meaningful order and format.
7. Check the length of the questionnaire.
8. Pre-test the questionnaire.
9. Develop the final survey form.

Deciding on the information required

It should be noted that one does not start by writing questions. The first step is to decide 'what are the things one needs to know from the respondent in order to meet the survey's objectives?' These, as has been indicated in the opening chapter of this textbook, should appear in the research brief and the research proposal.

One may already have an idea about the kind of information to be collected, but additional help can be obtained from secondary data, previous rapid rural appraisals and exploratory research. In respect of secondary data, the researcher should be aware of what work has been done on the same or similar problems in the past, what factors have not yet been examined, and how the present survey questionnaire can build on what has already been discovered. Further, a small number of preliminary informal interviews with target respondents will give a glimpse of reality that may help clarify ideas about what information is required.

Define the target respondents

At the outset, the researcher must define the population about which he/she wishes to generalise from the sample data to be collected. For example, in marketing research, researchers often have to decide whether they should cover only existing users of the generic product type or whether to also include non-users. Secondly, researchers have to draw up a sampling frame. Thirdly, in designing the questionnaire we must take into account factors such as the age, education, etc. of the target respondents.

Choose the method(s) of reaching target respondents

It may seem strange to be suggesting that the method of reaching the intended respondents should constitute part of the questionnaire design process. However, a moment's reflection is sufficient to conclude that the method of contact will influence not only the questions the researcher is able to ask but the phrasing of those questions. The main methods available in survey research are:

· personal interviews
· group or focus interviews
· mailed questionnaires
· telephone interviews.

Within this region the first two mentioned are used much more extensively than the second pair. However, each has its advantages and disadvantages. A general rule is that the more sensitive or personal the information, the more personal the form of data collection should be.

Decide on question content

Researchers must always be prepared to ask, "Is this question really needed?" The temptation to include questions without critically evaluating their contribution towards the achievement of the research objectives, as they are specified in the research proposal, is surprisingly strong. No question should be included unless the data it gives rise to is directly of use in testing one or more of the hypotheses established during the research design.

There are only two occasions when seemingly "redundant" questions might be included:

· Opening questions that are easy to answer and which are not perceived as being "threatening", and/or are perceived as being interesting, can greatly assist in gaining the respondent's involvement in the survey and help to establish a rapport.

This, however, should not be an approach that should be overly used. It is almost always the case that questions which are of use in testing hypotheses can also serve the same functions.

· "Dummy" questions can disguise the purpose of the survey and/or the sponsorship of a study. For example, if a manufacturer wanted to find out whether its distributors were giving the consumers or end-users of its products a reasonable level of service, the researcher would want to disguise the fact that the distributors' service level was being investigated. If he/she did not, then rumours would abound that there was something wrong with the distributor.

Develop the question wording

Survey questions can be classified into three forms, i.e. closed, open-ended and open response-option questions. So far only the first of these, i.e. closed questions has been discussed. This type of questioning has a number of important advantages;

· It provides the respondent with an easy method of indicating his answer - he does not have to think about how to articulate his answer.
· It 'prompts' the respondent so that the respondent has to rely less on memory in answering a question.

· Responses can be easily classified, making analysis very straightforward.

· It permits the respondent to specify the answer categories most suitable for their purposes.

· They do not allow the respondent the opportunity to give a different response to those suggested.
· They 'suggest' answers that respondents may not have considered before.

With open-ended questions the respondent is asked to give a reply to a question in his/her own words. No answers are suggested.

Example: "What do you like most about this implement?"

Open-ended questions have a number of advantages when utilised in a questionnaire:

· They allow the respondent to answer in his own words, with no influence by any specific alternatives suggested by the interviewer.
· They often reveal the issues which are most important to the respondent, and this may reveal findings which were not originally anticipated when the survey was initiated.

· Respondents can 'qualify' their answers or emphasise the strength of their opinions.

However, open-ended questions also have inherent problems which means they must be treated with considerable caution. For example:

· Respondents may find it difficult to 'articulate' their responses i.e. to properly and fully explain their attitudes or motivations.
· Respondents may not give a full answer simply because they may forget to mention important points. Some respondents need prompting or reminding of the types of answer they could give.

· Data collected is in the form of verbatim comments - it has to be coded and reduced to manageable categories. This can be time consuming for analysis and there are numerous opportunities for error in recording and interpreting the answers given on the part of interviewers.

· Respondents will tend to answer open questions in different 'dimensions'. For example, the question: "When did you purchase your tractor?", could elicit one of several responses, viz:

"A short while ago".
"Last year".
"When I sold my last tractor".
"When I bought the farm".

Such responses need to be probed further unless the researcher is to be confronted with responses that cannot be aggregated or compared.

It has been suggested that the open response-option questions largely eliminate the disadvantages of both the afore-mentioned types of question. An open response-option is a form of question which is both open-ended and includes specific response-options as well. For example,

What features of this implement do you like?

· Performance
· Quality
· Price
· Weight
· Others mentioned:

The advantages of this type of question are twofold:

· The researcher can avoid the potential problems of poor memory or poor articulation by then subsequently being able to prompt the respondent into considering particular response options.
· Recording during interview is relatively straightforward.

The one disadvantage of this form of question is that it requires the researcher to have a good prior knowledge of the subject in order to generate realistic/likely response options before printing the questionnaire. However, if this understanding is achieved the data collection and analysis process can be significantly eased.

Clearly there are going to be situations in which a questionnaire will need to incorporate all three forms of question, because some forms are more appropriate for seeking particular forms of response. In instances where it is felt the respondent needs assistance to articulate answers or provide answers on a preferred dimension determined by the researcher, then closed questions should be used. Open-ended questions should be used where there are likely to be a very large number of possible different responses (e.g. farm size), where one is seeking a response described in the respondent's own words, and when one is unsure about the possible answer options. The mixed type of question would be advantageous in most instances where most potential response-options are known; where unprompted and prompted responses are valuable, and where the survey needs to allow for unanticipated responses.

There are a series of questions that should be posed as the researchers develop the survey questions themselves:

"Is this question sufficient to generate the required information?"

For example, asking the question "Which product do you prefer?" in a taste panel exercise will reveal nothing about the attribute(s) the product was judged upon. Nor will this question reveal the degree of preference. In such cases a series of questions would be more appropriate.

"Can the respondent answer the question correctly?"

· An inability to answer a question arises from three sources:

· Having never been exposed to the answer, e.g. "How much does your husband earn?"

· Forgetting, e.g. What price did you pay when you last bought maize meal?"

· An inability to articulate the answer: e.g. "What improvements would you want to see in food preparation equipment?"

"Are there any external events that might bias response to the question?"

For example, judging the popularity of beef products shortly after a foot and mouth epidemic is likely to have an effect on the responses.

"Do the words have the same meaning to all respondents?"

For example, "How many members are there in your family?"

There is room for ambiguity in such a question since it is open to interpretation as to whether one is speaking of the immediate or extended family.

"Are any of the words or phrases loaded or leading in any way?"

For example," What did you dislike about the product you have just tried?"

The respondent is not given the opportunity to indicate that there was nothing he/she disliked about the product. A less biased approach would have been to ask a preliminary question along the lines of, "Did you dislike any aspect of the product you have just tried?", and allow him/her to answer yes or no.

"Are there any implied alternatives within the question?"

The presence or absence of an explicitly stated alternative can have dramatic effects on responses. For example, consider the following two forms of a question asked of a 'Pasta-in-a-Jar' concept test:

1. " Would you buy pasta-in-a-jar if it were locally available?"
2. "If pasta-in-a-jar and the cellophane pack you currently use were both available locally, would you:
· Buy only the cellophane packed pasta?
· Buy only the pasta-in-a-jar product?
· Buy both products?"

The explicit alternatives provide a context for interpreting the true reactions to the new product idea. If the first version of the question is used, the researcher is almost certain to obtain a larger number of positive responses than if the second form is applied.

"Will the question be understood by the type of individual to be interviewed?"

It is good practice to keep questions as simple as possible. Researchers must be sensitive to the fact that some of the people he/she will be interviewing do not have a high level of education. Sometimes he/she will have no idea how well or badly educated the respondents are until he/she gets into the field. In the same way, researchers should strive to avoid long questions. The fewer words in a question the better. Respondents' memories are limited and absorbing the meaning of long sentences can be difficult: in listening to something they may not have much interest in, the respondents' minds are likely to wander, they may hear certain words but not others, or they may remember some parts of what is said but not all.

"Is there any ambiguity in my questions?"

The careless design of questions can result in the inclusion of two items in one question. For example: "Do you like the speed and reliability of your tractor?"

The respondent is given the opportunity to answer only 'yes' or 'no', whereas he might like the speed, but not the reliability, or vice versa. Thus it is difficult for the respondent to answer and equally difficult for the researcher to interpret the response.

The use of ambiguous words should also be avoided. For example: "Do you regularly service your tractor?"

The respondents' understanding and interpretation of the term 'regularly' will differ. Some may consider that regularly means once a week, others may think once a year is regular. The inclusion of such words again present interpretation difficulties for the researcher.

"Are any words or phrases vague?"

Questions such as 'What is your income?' are vague and one is likely to get many different responses with different dimensions. Respondents may interpret the question in different terms, for example:

· hourly pay?
· weekly pay?
· yearly pay?
· income before tax?
· income after tax?
· income in kind as well as cash?
· income for self or family?
· all income or just farm income?

The researcher needs to specify the 'term' within which the respondent is to answer.

"Are any questions too personal or of a potentially embarrassing nature?"

The researcher must be clearly aware of the various customs, morals and traditions in the community being studied. In many communities there can be a great reluctance to discuss certain questions with interviewers/strangers. Although the degree to which certain topics are taboo varies from area to area, such subjects as level of education, income and religious issues may be embarrassing and respondents may refuse to answer.

"Do questions rely on feats of memory?"

The respondent should be asked only for such data as he is likely to be able to clearly remember. One has to bear in mind that not everyone has a good memory, so questions such as 'Four years ago was there a shortage of labour?' should be avoided.

Putting questions into a meaningful order and format

Opening questions: Opening questions should be easy to answer and not in any way threatening to THE respondents. The first question is crucial because it is the respondent's first exposure to the interview and sets the tone for the nature of the task to be performed. If they find the first question difficult to understand, or beyond their knowledge and experience, or embarrassing in some way, they are likely to break off immediately. If, on the other hand, they find the opening question easy and pleasant to answer, they are encouraged to continue.

Question flow: Questions should flow in some kind of psychological order, so that one leads easily and naturally to the next. Questions on one subject, or one particular aspect of a subject, should be grouped together. Respondents may feel it disconcerting to keep shifting from one topic to another, or to be asked to return to some subject they thought they gave their opinions about earlier.

Question variety:. Respondents become bored quickly and restless when asked similar questions for half an hour or so. It usually improves response, therefore, to vary the respondent's task from time to time. An open-ended question here and there (even if it is not analysed) may provide much-needed relief from a long series of questions in which respondents have been forced to limit their replies to pre-coded categories. Questions involving showing cards/pictures to respondents can help vary the pace and increase interest.

Closing questions

It is natural for a respondent to become increasingly indifferent to the questionnaire as it nears the end. Because of impatience or fatigue, he may give careless answers to the later questions. Those questions, therefore, that are of special importance should, if possible, be included in the earlier part of the questionnaire. Potentially sensitive questions should be left to the end, to avoid respondents cutting off the interview before important information is collected.

In developing the questionnaire the researcher should pay particular attention to the presentation and layout of the interview form itself. The interviewer's task needs to be made as straight-forward as possible.

· Questions should be clearly worded and response options clearly identified.
· Prescribed definitions and explanations should be provided. This ensures that the questions are handled consistently by all interviewers and that during the interview process the interviewer can answer/clarify respondents' queries.

Ample writing space should be allowed to record open-ended answers, and to cater for differences in handwriting between interviewers.

Physical appearance of the questionnaire

The physical appearance of a questionnaire can have a significant effect upon both the quantity and quality of marketing data obtained. The quantity of data is a function of the response rate. Ill-designed questionnaires can give an impression of complexity, medium and too big a time commitment. Data quality can also be affected by the physical appearance of the questionnaire with unnecessarily confusing layouts making it more difficult for interviewers, or respondents in the case of self-completion questionnaires, to complete this task accurately. Attention to just a few basic details can have a disproportionately advantageous impact on the data obtained through a questionnaire.

Use of booklets

The use of booklets, in the place of loose or stapled sheets of paper, make it easier for interviewer or respondent to progress through the document. Moreover, fewer pages tend to get lost.

Simple, clear formats

The clarity of questionnaire presentation can also help to improve the ease with which interviewers or respondents are able to complete a questionnaire.

Creative use of space and typeface

In their anxiety to reduce the number of pages of a questionnaire these is a tendency to put too much information on a page. This is counter-productive since it gives the questionnaire the appearance of being complicated. Questionnaires that make use of blank space appear easier to use, enjoy higher response rates and contain fewer errors when completed.

Use of colour coding

Colour coding can help in the administration of questionnaires. It is often the case that several types of respondents are included within a single survey (e.g. wholesalers and retailers). Printing the questionnaires on two different colours of paper can make the handling easier.

Interviewer instructions

Interviewer instructions should be placed alongside the questions to which they pertain. Instructions on where the interviewers should probe for more information or how replies should be recorded are placed after the question.

In general it is best for a questionnaire to be as short as possible. A long questionnaire leads to a long interview and this is open to the dangers of boredom on the part of the respondent (and poorly considered, hurried answers), interruptions by third parties and greater costs in terms of interviewing time and resources. In a rural situation an interview should not last longer then 30-45 minutes.

Piloting the questionnaires

Even after the researcher has proceeded along the lines suggested, the draft questionnaire is a product evolved by one or two minds only. Until it has actually been used in interviews and with respondents, it is impossible to say whether it is going to achieve the desired results. For this reason it is necessary to pre-test the questionnaire before it is used in a full-scale survey, to identify any mistakes that need correcting.

The purpose of pretesting the questionnaire is to determine:

· whether the questions as they are worded will achieve the desired results
· whether the questions have been placed in the best order

· whether the questions are understood by all classes of respondent

· whether additional or specifying questions are needed or whether some questions should be eliminated

· whether the instructions to interviewers are adequate.

Usually a small number of respondents are selected for the pre-test. The respondents selected for the pilot survey should be broadly representative of the type of respondent to be interviewed in the main survey.

If the questionnaire has been subjected to a thorough pilot test, the final form of the questions and questionnaire will have evolved into its final form. All that remains to be done is the mechanical process of laying out and setting up the questionnaire in its final form. This will involve grouping and sequencing questions into an appropriate order, numbering questions, and inserting interviewer instructions.

Chapter Summary

A well designed questionnaire is essential to a successful survey. However, the researcher must develop his/her own intuition with respect to what constitutes 'good design' since there is no theory of questionnaires to guide him/her.

A good questionnaire is one which help directly achieve the research objectives, provides complete and accurate information; is easy for both interviewers and respondents to complete, is so designed as to make sound analysis and interpretation possible and is brief.

There are at least nine distinct steps: decide on the information required; define the target respondents, select the method(s) of reaching the respondents; determine question content; word the questions; sequence the questions; check questionnaire length; pre-test the questionnaire and develop the final questionnaire.

Key Terms

Group focus interviews
Mailed questionnaire
Open-ended and open response-option questions
Personal interviews
Piloting questionnaires
Target respondents
Telephone interviews

Review Questions

1. Summarise the qualities of a good questionnaire.

2. Where should interviewer instructions pertaining to responses to a particular question be placed on the questionnaire?

3. The textbook says that one does not start by writing questions. How should the researcher begin?

4. What are the two occasions when apparently "redundant" questions should be found in a questionnaire?

5. Name the three advantages of open-ended questions.

6. What are the three reasons why a respondent is unable to answer a question?

7. What is the recommended duration of interviews carried out in rural situations?

8. What are the key characteristics of opening questions in a questionnaire?

Chapter References

1. Crawford, I. M. (1990) Marketing Research Centre for Agricultural Marketing Training in Eastern and Southern Africa. Harare Zimbabwe.

2. Sudman, S. and Bradburn, N. M. (1973), Asking Questions, pp. 208 - 28.

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Chapter Objectives Structure Of The Chapter The qualities of a good questionnaire Preliminary decisions in questionnaire design Choose the method(s) of reaching target respondents Decide on question content Develop the question wording Disadvantages are also present when using such questions Closing questions Physical appearance of the questionnaire Piloting the questionnaires Chapter Summary Key Terms Review Questions Chapter References No survey can achieve success without a well-designed questionnaire.

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Because the interview idea didn't go as well as I expected, I decided to do a questionnaire. I think it's way more simple than picking participants, I do lose the opportunity of having more specific responses but I'm willing to risk it.

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Not much to update as I was busy with my final major project.
I did stat writing a neater version of the dissertation.

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For modern adults, the idea of owning a house has become somewhat illusory over the past twenty years, a feat enabled only by an economic miracle or the bank of mum and dad. Similarly, the concept of living in a society where your only worry is an unwanted gift from an adorable frog named Cousteau has vanished as we hurtle towards a disorienting dystopia. It's no surprise then that Nintendo's Animal Crossing series has been so appetising in the time being.

First debuting in 2001 and progressing to sell more than 30 million units worldwide, millennials have proved themselves more than willing to accrue housing debt by stuffing their bells into Tom Nook's bottomless apron pocket. Really though, who cares if our escapism involves such irony when there are dinosaur bones to dig up, bugs to catch and friendly neighbours to please!

To herald the start of a new decade, there's a new Tanuki scheme on the block in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, one which promises a lucrative vacation package and a means to make those essential repayments on the move thanks to the portable power of the Nintendo Switch. With seven games in the franchise already, here's an Animal Crossing history lesson to get you up to speed with this weird and wonderful series ahead of the next installment.

A moving mission statement

We can thank an unlikely ancient peripheral and a thoughtful soul for the inception of the Animal Crossing franchise. The game first reared its head as Animal Forest in Japan, dropping in April of 2001 onto the Nintendo 64.

It all began with an Nintendo 64 peripheral"

The concept for the game was enabled by the real-time clock (RTC) system baked into the 64 disk drive and the advent of rewritable storage.

This short-lived but influential peripheral gave rise to Animal Crossing's 24-hour approach. The 64DD allowed Animal Forest to simulate the passage of time in-game which provides the unique, personal approach that the games are known for. Being able to write the passage of time to memory afforded players the ability to engage in extremely wholesome activities like watching their plants grow, enjoying seasonal events and fostering relationships with other villagers who inhabited the town.

Animal Forest was then ported to GameCube and renamed Animal Crossing a few months later in December of 2001, arriving in North America in late 2002 and the European Union in late 2004, with Western holidays grafted into the mix thanks to an intense localization effort.

it all started with Cherishing those that you love

Yet it wouldn't have made it into the hearts of many without the pensive mind of Katsuya Eguchi, who came up with the concept after moving to work in Nintendo's Kyoto office at just 21 years old following his upbringing in Chiba Prefecture.

Animal Crossing was born from the idea of spending time with people you care about."

This coming-of-age pilgrimage across Japan resulted in Eguchi having to say goodbye to his loved ones, which made him realise the tremendous importance of spending precious time with the people you care about. This brainwave led Eguchi to attempt to remix this raw feeling into a video game and the Animal Crossing series was born.

Reflecting on the success of the series in 2016, Eguchi notes that Animal Crossing was "unprecedented gameplay" at the time, which worried the developer who found it difficult to explain what kind of game it was without any tangible reference point, which is cute given its subsequent worldwide success.

A formula for calm

The hallmarks of the series were established with the first game in 2001 and they have stayed fairly rigid (for good reason) throughout the many sequels. The game follows the player character who moves to a new town to live on their own amidst a series of cute animals who they can share messages with and give gifts to.

Animal Crossing games provide such an addictive feedback loop that none of them have aged poorly"

It simulates what should be a difficult social environment and complements it with a relaxed score and focus on mindful activities like bug-catching and interior design.

Animal Forest introduced a clever emulation system into the game NES title you can find in the world and play in their entirety. It also introduced Kapp'n's ferry service via the Game Boy Advance Gamecube link cable (good luck digging that one out!) and who could forget everyone's favourite angry mole, Mr. Resetti, who was brought to the world's attention with the first game in the series, a now-iconic character who chides the player for resetting the game without saving.

If you've fallen foul to his rants, just know that he is vindicated in his concern and you should feel ashamed! At least you'll know for next time...

If you're unfamiliar with the series in general, the main means of progression in the game is tied to upgrading the size of your home so you can fill it with your growing collection of furniture. This involves a series of loans that grow in scale, agreed upon with - you guessed it - Thomas Nook. The Animal Crossing games provide such a solid and reliable feedback loop that none of them have aged really poorly, meaning going back to this first entry on the GameCube will always be a source of warmth and happiness for those with nostalgia for their original town. Just be prepared to pick up a LOT of weeds...

Portable pen pals

Technically four years after the release of the original game but only one or two ahead of its western debut, Animal Crossing: brought the social simulator to portable devices with a stellar Nintendo DS entry in 2005.

Wild World funnelled the charming gameplay into a bite-sized package"

This was my personal entry point to the series and it remains a firm favourite for many fans, funnelling the charming gameplay into a bite-size package that naturally upped the ante when it comes to the cute factor.

Wild World was a useful escape vent from the anxieties of day to day life and introduced a few new mechanics, despite being a mostly incremental upgrade from the original. Most important was the introduction of multiplayer. Wild World was the first to leverage the power of Wi-Fi to allow players to visit each other's homes and towns, with up to three friends able to run riot in your little patch of the world.

Wild World improved upon the character customization system and added considerable nuance to the villager AI, making interactions more personal and sentimental. The Nintendo DS stylus was a natural fit for inventory management and a host of new activities and tools like the Slingshot and Watering Can, gave players more reasons to keep up their repayments to Nook Enterprises. Of course, the introduction of multiplayer services to Animal Crossing did not arrive without some teething problems.

The most famous issue was known as the Red Tulip glitch, a failed gift from Nintendo that resulted in a corrupted letter and an item that, when placed in a house, would erect an illusory, impenetrable barrier which could block exits and potentially break the game. An apology for the grave mistake was issued shortly after via an in-game letter from Nintendo which was filled with a boon of bells. Oops! Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi service was taken down in 2014, leaving players trapped in time.

From the country to the city

Come 2008, the Animal Crossing series' middle child arrived in , a bespoke entry for the Wii that felt a little out of place. City Folk developed upon Wild World 's commitment to multiplayer by leveraging the Nintendo Wii's Wi-Fi capabilities to allow players to visit and explore towns together, drawing eternally inappropriate faces on Blanca, the terrifying mysterious cat who lacks a face. Seriously!

Unfortunately, none of the cute attempts at iteration in City Folk could pull people from the charm of Wild World"

City Folk also used the Wii Speak accessory to allow for robust voice communication when playing together and supported text chat via a keyboard peripheral. It was all fairly ambitious for the time, especially the in-game auction house which allows players to list and sell their items over the internet. However, when it came down to the actual game, the updates were even more incremental than Wild World and offered little in the way of new experiential gameplay.

There was some considerable whiplash to shift from the pocket-sized replayability of Wild World to the more sluggish Wii-based City Folk. Fans were used to being able to play the game on the move, so the switch back to console required some buy-in, and I personally just kept up with my outstanding DS debt instead of investing further in the Wii version. This was somewhat mitigated by the ability to graft your Wild World character into City Folk, but even then the benefits were spotty, and in my own experience, all of my friends were already too engaged with Wild World to care.

That's the odd thing about Animal Crossing games - releasing them in a yearly cycle or too close to one another without meaningful changes is foolish. Given that the game has such an established and successful feedback loop, updates are bound to be incremental if the developers haven't found a way to reinvent their approach. Players get sentimental about the friendly relationships they've fostered over the years, so getting them to pivot to a new discrete game is difficult without meaningful innovation.

There needs to be considerable distance to allow players to appreciate novel changes to the highly addicting feedback loop of kindness. In this case, the 'city' aspect of City Folk was already somewhat established in previous games - all it did was give you access to a few new stores, or rehashed tent shops you'd seen before in a disparate part of the map. One cool part of the game that has gone on to influence the rest of the series are the Distributed Items - means for Nintendo to gift players items based on seasonal events.

These included a GameCube dresser, a Cucumber Horse (don't ask) and a hilarious promotional voting poster featuring everyone's favourite grandpa turtle Tortimer, right on time for election season. Unfortunately, none of the cute attempts at iteration could pull people from the charm of Wild World, though it did go on to sell millions of copies regardless.

Turning a new leaf

After a hiatus of five years, Animal Crossing came back in 2013 to supplement the release of Nintendo's popular portable, the 3DS. New Leaf was a natural fit right out of the gate - an iterative spiritual successor to the original portable powerhouse Wild World.

Crucially, it delivered on the promise of a true Animal Crossing sequel by adding tons of new features, including the ability to play a role in building new structures in your town to improve the life of your fellow villagers. This added responsibility and extra layer of systems in place could be seen as overwhelming by some, but New Leaf heaped on the charm to make up for getting in the way of the serenity that underpins Animal Crossing's appeal.

New Leaf finally delivered on the promise of a true Animal Crossing sequel"

It reworked City Folk 's town into a more reserved and manageable Main Street, introducing a gardening and shoe shop, new developments on Kapp'ns Island and of course, Club LOL, an entertainment venue where K.K Slider could sling his fire beats to animal patrons. The character of K.K is an Animal Crossing hero, a free spirit fighting against music corporations with his acoustic poetry. He's based on Totaka Kazumi, the legendary sound designer responsible for Animal Crossing's heartwarming score.

Players could also share patterns and visit the houses of their friends via the Dream Suite, alongside new villagers with a more diverse range of personalities. New Leaf's cultural hegemony over the past near-decade has been persistently propped up by excellent memes and die-hard fans. A lot of the love from fans is afforded to Isabelle, the most important Shih Tzu in video game history who also happens to be the town mayor in New Leaf.

Isabelle would later go on to demolish countless video game icons in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate using her fishing rod and stylish presence alone. Speaking of in-game lore, Tom Nook's sons Timmy and Tommy famously joined the family business in New Leaf, opening Nookling Junction as their dad steps out of the picture to manage his real estate empire. A magnate in the shadows - so it goes...

Diversifying Nook's portfolio

Due to its undying popularity, instead of working on a new game for the Wii U, Nintendo revitalised New Leaf with the Welcome Amiibo update in 2016, which allowed players to use amiibo cards and Nintendo characters to unlock exclusive furniture items based on games like Splatoon and The Legend of Zelda. It was a good reason to return to your town if you weren't still picking out weeds and delivering presents on a daily basis.

The spin-off years came quickly after the runaway success of New Leaf and resulted in a few interesting side games for fans who wanted to engage with the characters they've been bonded with in a different context.

The first was Happy Home Designer, a 3DS sidecar that built upon a hallmark of the series: interior design.

In HHD you step away from running the town and become an actual employee of Mr. Tom Nook, fulfilling build requests from villagers, attuning furniture sets to certain personality traits and learning to please friends with your trained sense of style. It retained the empathetic ethos of the series by focusing on helping others. It also used Nintendo's wildly popular Amiibo technology to accrue new clients for Nook's Homes.

Speaking to USGamer, the game's director Aya Kyogoku said that the team "wanted the company to make Animal Crossing Amiibo, so that's why we made a game that works with them," and we thank Aya every day for her commitment. Without HHD we wouldn't have our desks full of adorable animals!

Animal Roadblock?

Later in the same year came Amiibo Festival for the Wii U, a Mario Party spin off which featured many beloved characters. Unfortunately, despite some clever mini-games like the strategic Desert Island Escape, it wasn't well received and ended up being a more successful vehicle for Amiibo figures.

Trying to turn Animal Crossing's charming gameplay into a competitive board game led to a detached and unsatisfactory experience... where Mario Party succeeds by pumping out adrenaline and enabling healthy competition, Amiibo Festival was simply too charming and safe for its own good.

Whilst initially stoking excitement, fan opinion soured"

Nintendo's pivot to mobile in the latter half of the past decade also gave rise to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in 2017, an attempt to port the game's charm to mobile.

Whilst initially stoking excitement, opinion soured as players realised that it fell prey to some of the more predatory aspects of mobile gaming. The giant catalogue of furniture was inspired but the tasks needed to craft it were woefully mundane and required an incredible amount of patience.

Then came the Leaf Tickets, a randomised means to obtain unique furniture which could be purchased with cold hard cash. This shone a blinding light on Tom Nook's capitalist ruse and unfortunately, the advent of microtransactions earned the game a bad reputation as it started to rely all too heavily on monetary investment from players. It turns out that Tom Nook's cutesy grift is charming until it's actively trying to rip pounds from your pocket...

An island getaway

After a ropey seven years of anguish where die-hard players have clung desperately to the charm of New Leaf, their prayers have finally been answered and a serious evolution is finally right around the corner. Animal Crossing: New Horizons will land on March 20th, 2020, the first meaningful entry in the series for the better part of a decade.

the first meaningful entry in the series for the better part of a decade."

With a robust crafting system, hundreds of quality-of-life improvements and a developed character customization system, the game is riding high on the success of the Nintendo Switch, which like the DS and 3DS before it is hoping to prove itself as the perfect portable base for the daily routine of playing a game like Animal Crossing, which hasn't fared so well on static consoles since the original GameCube release.

In a first for the series, up to eight players will be able to explore and mine an island for resources at one time, and the game will auto-save, which unfortunately relieves the beloved Mr. Resetti of his existential purpose. According to the developers, this won't be the last we see of him in New Horizons, so we can expect the manic mole to pivot into a different role.

With the most advanced toolset yet, New Horizons planning to be the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate of Animal Crossing games, with a litany of systems and a cavalcade of charming characters. Let's just hope too many additional systems don't spoil the reserved charm of the gameplay loop we know and love. I think I speak for everyone when I say that it's an island getaway that we could all really use right now!

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The Weird and Wonderful History of Animal Crossing

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For modern adults, the idea of owning a house has become somewhat illusory over the past twenty years, a feat enabled only by an economic miracle or the bank of mum and dad. Similarly, the concept of living in a society where your only worry is an unwanted gift from an adorable frog named Cousteau has vanished as we hurtle towards a disorienting dystopia.

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Does Animal Crossing help your mental health?

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Welcome to the Animal Crossing subreddit! The subreddit dedicated to the Animal Crossing video game franchise by Nintendo. Please make sure to read the rules before posting, thank you!

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Past candidates have tried to capitalize on popular video games, with mixed results. Will it be different this time, in the island paradises of the Nintendo Switch?

Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s presidential campaign introduced campaign signs in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It was the latest foray by a presidential campaign into the virtual world of gaming. Credit... Joe Biden 2020

It's been a long summer on your Animal Crossing island. You've shaken a lot of trees and caught a lot of cicadas. You've cornered the Stalk Market with more turnips than anyone thought possible. You've bought more furniture from the Nooks than your house can hold.

But Joe Biden 's campaign thinks you might want a reminder of news from the real world: a virtual campaign sign for your virtual yard.

The campaign said it had made four signs available on the platform on Tuesday, the day autumn started in the Nintendo Switch game. One sign bears the Biden-Harris logo; others say "Team Joe" and "Joe," with the "E" rendered in Pride colors. The fourth carries a stylized image of Mr. Biden's signature aviator sunglasses.

This is not the first time a political campaign tried to capitalize on a popular video game. But it may be the first effort to involve this much wood-chopping, bug-catching and buying of kitchen appliances from raccoons.

President Trump's campaign was dismissive of the stunt. "This explains everything: Joe Biden thinks he's campaigning for President of Animal Crossing from his basement," Samantha Zager, the campaign's deputy national press secretary, said in an email.

"The Trump campaign will continue to spend its resources campaigning in the real world with real Americans," she said. "And there still has been no Joe Biden boat parade. "

Christian Tom, the director of digital partnerships for the Biden-Harris campaign, said Animal Crossing "is a dynamic, diverse, and powerful platform that brings communities together from across the world." He called it an exciting new opportunity for our campaign to connect with supporters "as they build and decorate their islands."

"We're already looking forward to rolling out more digital swag, voter education tools and organizing efforts on Animal Crossing and other platforms," Mr. Tom added.

For now, it appears that nobody is getting a code to fly Dodo Airlines to the campaign's island (it doesn't have an island), which is just as well. The game slows down when more than a few visitors are flying in and out.

The Biden-Harris campaign said it would seed the signs with some gamer influencers who would share their gameplay with their audiences. Players can download the signs via a QR code, and the Nintendo Switch Online app on a mobile device.

Animal Crossing, a whimsical life-simulation game that became a phenomenon on the Switch during the coronavirus pandemic, has been around since 2001. In August, Nintendo reported more than 22 million sales of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, making it the most popular version of the game yet. Its players are essentially the rulers of their own worlds, changing and customizing the landscape, their homes and other villagers as they see fit (or as much as they are allowed by the rules of Tom Nook, who doles out loans and charges hefty construction fees).

The game's appeal comes in part from cute, catchphrase-spouting animals dressed in a variety of fashions as well as from the relentlessly cheerful illusion that there is nothing going on, no reason to rush, no crisis, no news at all.

Political messaging is not new to this version of the game, which was released on March 20, days after the pandemic was announced.

During the protests in Hong Kong earlier this year, activists took to their Animal Crossing islands to share virtual slogans. In May, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals protested a fish museum in the game. More recently, Black Lives Matter activists used it to raise awareness of their cause, even holding demonstrations in-game, The Guardian reported.

Nintendo did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Not all political efforts to appeal to gamers have gone well. The mobile Pokémon Go game was at the height of its popularity in 2016 when Hillary Clinton was mocked for urging people at a rally to "Pokémon Go to the polls!"

In 2007 and 2008, the presidential campaigns of Mrs. Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and John McCain engaged with players in Second Life, an online virtual world. But there isn't as much data on whether those efforts were successful, said Daniel Kreiss, a professor of political communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

With fewer people watching television, "the traditional 30-second ad pitch is much less relevant than it used to be," said Dennis Plane, a politics professor at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Penn., especially when ads can be easily skipped.

Campaigns in "video games are a little peculiar because they target a younger market, but people can vote at 18," he said, adding that "campaigns that are successfully able to woo 18- to 25-year-olds are often able to keep voters with the same party for their entire lives."

The campaign's rollout of virtual lawn signs in Animal Crossing likely won't move many people, Professor Plane said, but it could build excitement and enthusiasm among Biden-supporting gamers and their friends.

"In a coronavirus era when you can't knock on doors very easily, it's a new technique, a new tactic," he said. "We don't know if it will work; the proof is going to be in the pudding."

According to Elena Bertozzi, a professor of game design and development at Quinnipiac University, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was "released into this new environment where everyone was staying at home and playing games," and its audience "grew to include many nontraditional gamers."

"Animal Crossing is a pro-social game where players write each other letters and interact in ways that builds the community," she said. "It is a good cultural match for the Biden message."

"When you know that the demographic you are trying to reach are all playing a specific game," she said, "dropping your message in that game can be a smart strategic move."

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Biden Campaign Courts the Animal Crossing Island Vote With Yard Signs

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Past candidates have tried to capitalize on popular video games, with mixed results. Will it be different this time, in the island paradises of the Nintendo Switch? It's been a long summer on your Animal Crossing island. You've shaken a lot of trees and caught a lot of cicadas.

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A determined Animal Crossing: New Horizons player is attempting to see every single artwork in their museum in real life, and so far they've ticked 15 out of 43 on their list.

TikTok user and Animal Crossing content creator @mayplaystv has been documenting their progress on the video sharing app and so far has visited museums such as The National Gallery, Tate Britain, and British Museum in London as well as the Louvre museum in Paris, Neues Museum in Berlin, plus a few others.

On their travels, May has managed to see iconic artworks such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa ('Famous Painting' in Animal Crossing: New Horizons), Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers ('Flowery Painting'), John Everett Millais' Ophelia ('Sinking Painting'), Alexandros of Antioch's Venus De Milo sculpture ('Beautiful Statue'), Thutmose's Nefertiti Bust ('Mystic Statue'), plus so many more.

@mayplaystv♬ เสียงต้นฉบับ - อุ้ยเกี๋ยงและผองเพื่อน

To make the experience even more meaningful, May has created an Amiibo card for their in-game character that they take around with them to every museum they visit. They've also provided an explainer on how they made this also on their

This isn't the first time Blathers' museum in Animal Crossing: New Horizons has inspired fans in the real world. A few months ago, one parent took to Reddit to share how their pandemic baby was using the in-game museum to fulfill their need to visit the real thing when so many of us were confined to our homes.

Things have been pretty quiet for the Animal Crossing: New Horizons community since Nintendo released the last free major content update for the game almost a whole year ago now. We did recently discover that Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be unplayable in 38 years, though. Don't start panicking, even if you are still playing New Horizons in the year 2061, you can just rewind the time and continue enjoying island life.
Speaking of museums, find out why Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the perfect game for a museum exhibition.

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This Animal Crossing: New Horizons player is on a journey to see every piece of in-game art in real life

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A determined Animal Crossing: New Horizons player is attempting to see every single artwork in their museum in real life, and so far they've ticked 15 out of 43 on their list.

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POW Pit Plays: Bubblegum KK 🐶🎶 arranged by my good friend Christian Do ✨💕 #animalcrossing #bubblegumkk #kkslidercovers #bandtok #wgi #marchingband

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@chumbygal
POW Pit Plays: Bubblegum KK 🐶🎶 arranged by my good friend Christian Do ✨💕 #animalcrossing #bubblegumkk #kkslidercovers #bandtok #wgi #marchingband
♬ original sound - 🍑 Rach 🍑

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Fiction and reality, how do one affect the other 

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Fiction and reality, how do one affect the other 

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I find writing very overwhelming, I decided to at least write bullet points to know what I should write.

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December 27- January 4 - Illustrations sketches

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December 27- January 4 - Illustrations sketches

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(For this one the dates are a bit all over the place as I did the sketches at different times some are earlier than December 27th but I don't remember when exactly, I did most of the sketches around the date listed though, I hope that doesn't affect anything)
Being a popup book I could benefit from the book being around a4 (or wider if I want it to be a rectangle when in a spread). I am thinking of making the first spread an interactive page, the reader can attach and detach the items inside the suitcase (that will open with a flap). The perfect tool to achieve this will be using adhesive velcro.

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January 7 - Thinking abou applying for EC

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January 7 - Thinking abou applying for EC

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While I have at least 1500 words drafted, I really don't think I can complete the essay in time. I have to prototype the pop-up mechanics and because of that, I can't complete chapter three. I am considering applying for EC to buy myself some time as my course is also clashing with this essay.

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I found a channel that has experience in pop up books, I want to see what mechanics I could use. I was thinking I could just do the standard fold/popup effect but it's good to know more techniques.

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Pop-Up Tutorial 84 - Make a Pop-Up Book + A Guide to Playlists

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In my chapter plan and my June cover sheet I mentioned that I will make a short montage for my practice and since then I changed my mind and would rather do something more physical.

Animal Crossing as a game in general (not only New Horizons) is a game that leans heavily onto costumization and creativity despite being a laid back game, starting from the initial town and the player's villager so I wanted to make something emphasizing that aspect of customization and how everyone starts the same way but everyone has a different 'result'.

Some ideas I've had in mind since are making a "choose your adventure/story" short illustrated book or a piece of art that can emphasize the customization of the game.

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September 27 - Changing my lead question

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September 27 - Changing my lead question

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The initial plan back in June was to cover video games in general that did well during the pandemic but over the summer I realized it's best to stick to only one and as I did play video games in lockdown I can confidently say Animal Crossing was helpful thus the change in my lead question

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0:00 / 7:34•Watch full video

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How the Pandemic Made Animal Crossing Much More Than Just a Game | NBCLX

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"Our entire lives have led up to this," my friends joked with me in mid-March.

I was sitting in my tiny New York City apartment, panicky and coming to terms with the reality that I'd be trapped inside for weeks, potentially months. But my friends reassured me that as lifelong video game enthusiasts, the prospect of sitting on a sofa in front of a TV for an interminable stretch would be a cakewalk. After all, gamers like me do already spend plenty of time in front of our screens all on our own.

But even sitting alone for hours, gamers aren't necessarily isolated. In many cases, far from it. With the rise of social media, gamers - particularly in Gen Z - have perfected the art of building communities in and around video games. Gamers don't just compete with strangers on the internet, but forge genuine, enduring friendships.

In this age of long-haul social distancing and mental-health strains, gamers have long had a tool that's now bringing some relief to those who've never picked up a controller before. The explosive growth of gaming during the pandemic has shown that many have found a new outlet for much-needed connection in isolation.

Gaming has skyrocketed during the pandemic, especially ones that connect you online with friends; games over video chat have replaced in-person happy hour for many (Credit: Alamy)

When shelter-in-place orders came down, millions of people around the world turned to tech-fuelled diversions to stay in touch with family and friends, like Netflix Party film viewings, Zoom chats and video games.

There's the outer-space saboteur mobile game Among Us ( which 100 million people have downloaded); and the Jackbox games that mix video chatting and elements of classics like Pictionary, and that have acted as stand-ins for in-person happy hours. Perhaps the most well known is Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Released in March, Nintendo's record-breaking Switch game that tripled the company's profits drops players in a tiny tropical town filled with talking anthropomorphic animal neighbours who help them redecorate their home, catch butterflies and grow fruit trees.

Gaming has skyrocketed during the pandemic, reaching people who'd play every now and then, or even those who had previously snubbed it entirely. In the US alone, four out of five consumers in one survey played video games in the last six months, according to a new study by NPD, an American business-research firm. And at a time in which many industries are in dire straits, sales in gaming are booming. Global revenue is expected to jump 20% this year to $175bn (£130bn).

But although the concept of socialisation in a game is new to many, video game enthusiasts have been using tech like this to build friendships online and stay connected for years.

Mark Griffiths is a professor at Nottingham Trent University who's written about gaming friendships in the pandemic, and studied socialisation in video games for decades. In 2003, he published a study that showed a quarter of 11,000 players of the online role-playing game Everquest said their favourite part of the game was connecting with other players. He says the study was a direct and early contradiction of the stereotype that video games are isolating, and gamers antisocial (even though those early pandemic memes jokingly played off those stereotypes). In another study from 2007, he looked at 912 players of massively multiplayer online (MMO) role-playing games from 45 countries who played on average around 22 hours a week, concluding that the online game environment was "highly socially interactive".

He says, "Ten percent of those in the survey actually ended up forming romantic relationships outside of the game... The idea of socialising in a game is not new at all." Fast forward to 2020, and Griffiths says that when lockdowns began and people had nothing much to do, "maybe they're gaming for the first time, and they realised this was an outlet you can naturally socialise in".

The game Animal Crossing has become a phenomenon, standing in for social interaction during lockdown - and being the virtual site of parties and weddings (Credit: Alamy)

For example, in Animal Crossing, players can visit the towns of both real-life friends or strangers who share their village code online. Flying on a virtual seaplane into my brother's village, filled with friendly koalas, has become our 2020 ritual as he continues to isolate from Washington, DC, and we miss family holidays. I also visit friends scattered all over the world, including one from secondary school whom I haven't seen since 2000.

Some people have held their birthday parties via Animal Crossing this year, others go on dates and some couples who cancelled their weddings because of Covid-19 have even gotten married in the game. There's also an online fan-made marketplace where players connect to trade fruits and rare furniture, called Nookazon. The site hosts trivia nights and chat meetups for Animal Crossing players.

The pandemic "really opened a lot of people's eyes - even non-gamers - to what games can do to bring people together," says Daniel Luu, the founder of Nookazon, who's a software developer and an active gamer based in Washington, DC. He says one of his site's most popular top sellers is a 50-year-old woman who's "never played video games in her entire life". "I think the reason Animal Crossing has become so successful is because anyone can play it. There are tons of cute items, tons of fun characters, tons of customisations," he says. "It really helped show that video games aren't just all, like, Call of Duty."

Lin Zhu is a graduate student in psychology at the University of Albany in New York. In September, she wrote a paper on Animal Crossing and the pandemic, published in the journal Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies. Zhu says Animal Crossing in particular provides laid-back escapism and soothing feelings of safety in these turbulent times - which has helped bring new gamers into the hobby. "The pandemic has not only reduced face-to-face communication opportunities, but also allowed more people to learn about games as a novel platform to get social interaction."

Amazon-owned Twitch, where people watch other people play video games in live webcasts, chatting in real time with the streamer and other viewers, clocked five billion hours of viewed content in the second quarter of 2020 alone. The engagement is an 83% increase from last year. It's a new record.

"This is what we have been doing for years," says Erin Wayne, the company's director of community and creator marketing. She started out as a streamer on the site herself playing the best-selling game of all time, Minecraft. It's he same game in which an elementary school in Japan held a virtual graduation in lieu of an in-person ceremony because of Covid-19. She says the basic model of connecting gamers with streamers "hasn't changed because of Covid".

Wayne adds as Twitch has become more popular, it's expanded its platform beyond gamers, especially during social-distancing restrictions in 2020. Book authors are hosting book launches, musicians are holding concerts and even drag queens are putting on shows, all following the gamer-streamer model. There are also new communities of gamers that have formed on the site, including LGBTQ gamers and gamers who've served in the armed forces.

Jay-Ann Lopez says that games have helped old and new players alike "keep connected, social and sane" during the pandemic (Credit: Krystal Neuvill)

Like many communities, gaming has its share of toxicity and hostility. But when Jay-Ann Lopez, a London-based gamer, launched a closed Facebook group in 2015 called Black Girl Gamers as a safe and inclusive space in the face of racism and sexism in the gaming community, she was able to build a vibrant community that's since grown across platforms like Twitch. This summer, it even hosted a summit of entirely black female professionals in the industry, which has long been dominated by white men.

Lopez says that games have helped old and new players alike "keep connected, social and sane" during the pandemic. "For a long time, people have either looked down on that or called gamers 'weird', but now people and companies want to know how to maintain relationships and communities digitally. It's more accessible for people."

So, although more people staring at a screen may seem like an unhealthy habit, even the World Health Organization believes it could be key in nurturing our bonds with others. Earlier this year, it launched #PlayApartTogether. And as mental health professionals stress the importance of relationships, connections and community in these times, they're even beginning to find direct psychological and social benefits from gaming across the generations.

As the pandemic rolls on and millions around the world face months of social isolation, gaming continues to be a surprising lifeline. Those new players may keep on gaming even after they're allowed to socialise in person, too. A Google survey showed that 40% of new gamers say they're likely to continue playing video games after the pandemic.

"Now it's just been brought into the mainstream. A lot more people have realised what it can do - gaming bringing communities together has always been there," says Nookazon's Luu. "It's been there for years."

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How online gaming has become a social lifeline

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Gamers have known for a long time something that everyone else is starting to figure out: there's community connection on the other side of a screen.

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Video Games Help People to Connect and Engage During COVID-19

The isolation of COVID-19, especially during the early stages of the pandemic, has forced many people to turn to alternative methods of communication and engagement, such as video games, speakers noted during a Thursday event, organized by video games industry associations.

At the event, panelists discussed the role of video games on health and well-being, and the potential for video games to be used as a positive force in the field of mental health. The event was hosted by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe, in collaboration with the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), and other video game associations.

People found in video games during the COVID-19 pandemic, as players used the medium to share and keep in touch with peers while playing together, said panelist Andrew Przybylski, director of research at Oxford Internet Institute, who led a recent study that exampled the impacts of video game playing on well-being during the pandemic.

Other recent research has found that video games can be used to reinforced connections between parents and children, when they play together during pabdemic lockdowns.

"Video games proved their relevance with its audience, facilitating a medium to connect and share experiences," said Eduardo Mena, Research Director at the UK-based Ipsos Mori, another one of the panelists who appeared at the event.

But while video games have become a dominant source of entertainment for children and adults alike, the industry itself continues to be misunderstood. Media continues to rely on old research, stereotypes, and broad generalizations to report on this hobby, resulting in the misinformed engaging with video games in a "uniform, monolithic way," said Gene Park of The Washington Post, moderating the event.

"[Video games] remains woefully understudied as an industry," said Park.

Pandemic Interrupted "Circadian Rhythm of Play"

The pandemic interrupted the "circadian rhythm of play", leading people to play video games more on a daily basis, especially online multiplayer ones, when national lockdowns first began in the UK in 2020 when compared to 2019.

A study, conducted by the Oxford Internet Institute , examined the top 500 games on Steam, a video game distribution service, and compared daily play data for 2019 and 2020, to determine whether the COVID-19 pandemic was related to an uptick or change in behavior for players worldwide.

Typically, video games engagement is subjected to what Przybylski called the "circadian rhythm of play", with people normally playing during weekends, or on days of rest. However, the pandemic interrupted this circadian rhythm, prompting a "weekend effect" that led to increased gameplay.

"The pandemic erased the weekends, leading people to play more year-round," said Przybylski.

While the heightened video game engagement led to concerns of possible addiction, the study also found that when lockdowns eased, the engagement also waned again, although some aspects of the "weekend effect" persisted, when people continued to work from home.

Video Games May Contribute to Well-Being, Says Ground Breaking New Study

A previous study , also conducted by the Oxford Internet Institute, examined industry data on actual play time for two popular video games, Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

This groundbreaking study suggests that experiences of competence and social connection with others through play may contribute to people's well-being.

The experiences during play could even be more important than the actual amount of time a player invests in games and could play a major role in the well-being of players.

Przybylski sees these studies as an opportunity for the video game industry to go further in understanding the connection between video games and behavior and health, as opposed to jumping to "fast, cheap narratives that miss the big picture."

"We need to take care not to forget the basics behind human behavior and how we understand health, in light of the digital world, in light of video games."

He emphasizes that going forward, industries and researchers alike should collect data that "acts as a rising tide for all ships."

"If you want to understand how human collaboration plays into specific types of narratives, feeds into the human story and into mental health....it means you have to dig a bit deeper. Players themselves need to be part of that process."

Supportive Role of Video Games During the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated video game engagement, with players appreciating the supportive role of video games during pandemic restrictions, another new study found .

This study, conducted by Ipsos Mori, examined the impact of the pandemic on people who play video games.

Around 30% of surveyed players said that playing video games helped their mood and allowed them to feel less isolated as they stayed in contact with friends and family, this number increasing to almost 50% with multiplayer online games.

One in four players also improved their perception about the link between video games and mental health.

There was also an increase in parents who played video games. Parents who played video games with their children found the experiences helpful in connecting with their children and in facilitating their learning.

Normalizing Mental Health Discussions Through Video Games

The video game Sea of Solitude allowed players to normalize mental health conversations through an active form of storytelling, leading many fans to say that the game "changed their life for the better," said game developer Cornelia Geppert, CEO of Jo-Mei Games .

Many have written to Geppert, saying that they now "hope to have a better future for themselves, for the first time in decades. They now want to seek therapy and feel hopefully [in overcoming] their own issues."

The game tells an intimate story of a young woman's emotional journey to overcome loneliness.

Several different manifestations of loneliness are depicted throughout the game - from bullying, family, relationships and mental health issues. The main character, Kaye, turns into a monster as she suffers from strong feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness.

Players experience what she and the other characters are going through as they help her turn back into a human, with the key message of the game not only to chase joy and happiness, "but to embrace all your angles, to bring all your emotions into balance," said Geppert.

"[Sea of Solitude] shows that sometimes it is most important to focus on your own well-being first."

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Video Games Help People To Connect And Engage During COVID-19 - Health Policy Watch

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Video Games Help People to Connect and Engage During COVID-19 The isolation of COVID-19, especially during the early stages of the pandemic, has forced many people to turn to alternative methods of communication and engagement, such as video games, speakers noted during a Thursday event, organized by video games industry associations.

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Another example, it is a quite accurate definition of Iyashikei, a show about girls who are very into the hobby of camping. Has calming visuals and amazing soundtrack.

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Another example

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This is basically what I mean when I talk about slice of life, it's not exactly easy to explain but to summarize: media that is soothing and relaxing, as it doesn't only refer to games to be clear. Although this post talks about mainly Japanese media it doesn't end there it applies to western media as well. A good example of this would be Studio Ghibli movies.

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This is Liziqi, a notorious youtuber that makes beautiful handcrafts in the countriside, her videos are exactly what I mean when I say people love to see this type of media because it's slow, mundane- but not boring! To our eyes at least, because we only see what she edited or else the videos would be hours long.

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（羊羔毛斗篷)Weave a lamb wool cape for the freezing winter 蓬松柔软的羊羔毛，织一件斗篷便不怕寒冬的风雪 | Liziqi Channel

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Video essay that gave me inspiration for this idea

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Video essay that gave me inspiration for this idea

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A very long video on how the countryside is depicted in fiction and anime I watched weeks prior to the start of term 3, despite being often considered a "boring" place they manage to make anime about usually nothing but someone's daily life look very interesting and intriguing with both visuals and storytelling. This gave me a lot of things to think about and did want to talk about slow paced media.

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0:00 / 1:17:24•Watch full video

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A more in depth brainstorm session to get a solid topic and find my lead question, here I'm still talking about slice of life and slow-paced media.

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Here I begun brainstorming on some ideas as well as potential topics I could use for the dissertation, at this moment I was really thinking about the cottage core aesthetic as well the feeling of people liking the idea of living a slow-life in the countryside and enjoying the mundane activities but not actually wanting to move for reasons like technology and lack of transports like in London.

It also made me think of "slow-paced" media and the genre called "Slice of life". I still was thinking of what I could pick so it's not very coherent it was for getting out some ideas on paper.