Internet privacy

Psychiatry

Escapism

Engineering

Pathology

Aerospace engineering

Psychology

Social distance

Isolation (microbiology)

Social isolation

Disease

Loneliness

Spacecraft

New horizons

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Video game

Computer science

Multimedia

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Psychotherapist

Anxiety

Medicine

Social psychology

Biology

Microbiology

Pandemic

Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies

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.

The psychology behind video games during <scp>COVID</scp> ‐19 pandemic: A case study of <scp> <i>Animal Crossing: New Horizons</i> </scp>

The psychology behind video games during COVID ‐19 pandemic: A case study of Animal Crossing: New Horizons