#socialgames

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is arguably the most talked about topic (and video game) trending across all social media platforms at the moment… why? The world is in the midst of a stressful and uncertain time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why a cute, innocent and cheerful fantasy cartoon video game like Animal Crossing has quickly gained such popularity and is thriving during social isolation.

The game’s purpose is to give players a feeling of empowerment and community, visualized through an adorable and pastel aesthetic. This “warm-hug” environment is particularly appealing and important during times like this, when a global pandemic has dramatically altered everyone’s day-to-day lives.

Therefore, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an excellent example of social gaming, interactivity and illustrates the power of video games to connect people. 

Some key quotes from Imad Khan’s article for The New York Times include… 

“The game is played at a relaxed pace, in which the player can do as much or as little as they want on any given day. Upbeat acoustic jams or bossa nova synths play in the background.” 

“Dr. Ramzan posits that the opportunities Animal Crossing affords players contribute to its wide appeal. For children, being able to engage in adultlike chores, like building and decorating a house, gives them power often out of reach.” 

“For adults, especially millennials who have lived through the Great Recession and current coronavirus-induced economic stress, it offers the white picket fence often associated with the American dream that’s increasingly elusive. Debt, which can accumulate quickly in Animal Crossing, can also be paid off easily. Goals feel attainable and within reach.”

You can read the full article on The New York Times website.

References

Buchanan, K 2020, ‘Animal Crossing is the perfect way to spend quarantine’, The New York Times, 31 March, viewed 23 May 2020, <https://www.nytimes.com/ 2020/03/31/arts/animal-crossingvirus.html?action=click&module= RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article>. 

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What is Social Gaming?

Social gaming is an activity or practice of playing an online game on a social media platform (Oxford Dictionary 2019). Social gaming is now the becoming more popular than ever and people are taking gaming seriously nowadays, to the point they recognized gaming as a type of competitive sport (known as E-sport). 

The Evolution of Gaming

When video game was first introduced, it started out to be single player and low in graphic. For example, arcade games. There were not much interaction between gamers, all they can compete back then is to beat the high scores of other players, hence less competitive. After that, 1v1 battle is introduced in Arcade games, for example Street Fighters and Mortal Kombat.

Fast forward to the rise of social media, games evolves along with social media as well. Games in social media are often casual and addictive. Facebook games are a trend for some time due to its simplicity and game interactions with Facebook friends. There are more interaction between people which you can compete more than one people in real time.

As the time goes by gaming has taken a serious turn. Games now requires gamers need to have good team chemistry and formulate strategies. Competitive games such as Dota, LOL, and CSGO has become famous. These games is extremely competitive and they often organize large competition with tremendous amount of prize pool. Gamers now could make a living out of gaming and then E-sport is introduced.

Why People Play Games?

Based on an article by TeachThought (2017) there are 5 reasons why people play games:

Escapism - Play games to escape from reality.

Competence - Seek to control and dominate certain things in game.

Accomplishments - Desire to accomplish something in game because it harder to accomplish things in real life.

Autonomy - Desire to feel independent, does not want to obey to any rules.

Relatedness - Feel like making a significant contribution to society within the game.

Can Gaming Be Beneficial?

Well...it depends on how you manage your play time.

With the correct amount of play time, gaming is proven to be beneficial to a person’s cognitive function. Gaming can improve one’s decision making and reflexes due to the unpredictable nature of games. Furthermore, playing games with a group of people can enhance teamwork, a study conducted by Brigham Young University (2019) proves that by playing games together can improves one’s interactive skill and cooperative ability. Gaming now can provide job opportunities as well, an average professional gamer can earn around 1000 to 5000 USD per month, while a professional gamer at the highest tier could earn a mouth-dropping 15,000 USD per month, excluding the bonus from competitive prize pool.

On the other hand, playing too much games or too immersive towards game can cause more harm than good. If one is too immersive into their games, it can cause the person to have aggressive behavior, and rage when they lose the game. Games such as GTA 5 has too mush adult content and it provides wrong values to the younger generations. In addition to that, people tend to be violent and toxic towards the community by either discrimination or bring physical harm to innocent people.

So... please control your gaming time and understand what’s right and what’s wrong.

References