A new survey released by Nintendo of America and The University of Oxford hopes to explore the correlation between Animal Crossing: New Horizons game time and players' mental wellbeing.
Seemingly sent out to select Nintendo account holders, the survey begins by asking respondees about their recent New Horizons playtime. Questions focus on how much time players have spent with the game over the past two weeks, and how much of that game time is spent actually 'playing' the game, rather than simply having it on in the background.
The next stage of the survey asks about players' satisfaction and feelings towards the game, including agree/disagree questions such as 'I could always find something interesting in AC:NH to do', 'my ability to play AC:NH was well matched with the game's challenges', 'I played AC:NH to forget about my problems', and even 'I played AC:NH because I'd feel awful if I didn't'.
Towards the end of the survey, questions focus more on the players' overall mental health, including one question which asks whether you're currently living your 'best possible life', or 'worst possible life'. You can see a few of the questions in the tweets below, shared online by Twinfinite's Rebecca Stone:
The survey hasn't been sent out to everyone, of course, but we wanted to give you a chance to have your say. If you'd like, feel free to cast your votes in our own polls below.
This survey appears to be a follow up from a similar study shared by The University of Oxford last year which found that games like Animal Crossing can be good for your mental health.
Comments 43
Animal Crossing makes me feel happy and carefree. It's really a nice game, and you can play it as fast or slow as you want.
I still play AC nearly daily.
The feature to able keep all villagers without losing them when i get hiatus was really made me happy. I want them stay forever in my island.
I have not played much Animal Crossing in 2021. But I dread that everytime I boot it up maybe my favorite villagers are gone. That ‘feeling” of attachment to virtual characters is something to be studied indeed.
2020 animal crossing was a gods send and spent alot of time with it
2021 it's a very odd visit to my town on special events now.
Haven't played it in months since I've finished my town/house design, museum etc and there's nothing else to do since Nintendo doesn't bring out any decent updates. 🤷🏻♂️ Bored of it now, it still feels very half-arsed and lacking in features compared to New Leaf.
@AlienigenX You don't need to be, they will always ask you if they can leave and won't move out randomly like in some of the other games.
@sanderev the same here.
I was outside my local store when got released. Felt like a kid in a candy shop. Loved it and played for a few months.
Then I got bored with it compared to other games in the series. It didn't feel like the updates gave me something new to do, only things to collect. Still love Animal Crossing even though I've stopped playing it.
@Clyde_Radcliffe
I'm playing ACNH right now.
Just for maintenance, some little visit to villager houses, weeding the weeds, purchased never before seen outfits, etc.
Maybe around 30 - 40 minutes.
@AlienigenX
In ACNH, villagers will never moving out by themself. That was the major improvement i really like from ACNH.
You can keep them forever.
If you don't like with certain villagers, you can kick them directly when the villager have a bubble thought thinking about moving out (Say yes to make them moving out on the next day). Also, you can kick unwanted villagers by inviting the desired villager from Amiibo card, do their request for 3 days in a row and then you can kick any unwanted villagers as your desire.
Corporate funded research?
It became boring, routine nothing else!
Please new events, items, shop and bring old stuff !!
Would be doing by better if they actually updated the game and added more content/quality of life features.
Lack of updates. 0/10 game for me. 😜
It helped my mental state before, but I haven't played actively in like 7 months. They need to give us substantial updates.
I would play it if it didnt have so much motion blur.
Crazy Redd is playing me like a fiddle.
Play Animal Crossing nowadays actually makes me nostalgic about the lockdowns. Everything sucked so bad and yet, that island and that prologue music made me feel alright.
I'm doing fine now, but I had some mental problems a while ago. I'd spent so many hours per day with my Switch Lite in my hands that I temporarily became unable to distinguish the game from reality. I walked around my island thinking it was the videogame, and then when I was in the videogame called "Life" I thought it was reality. But I'm fine now. I'm playing that game and some NPCs have locked me up in some sort of insane asylum where I have access to the internet to leave comments for other players to read. It's kind of fun but I've been here for days and can't figure out how to escape. Is there a walkthrough for this game?
It's a fun relaxing game assuming you get the seasons right to get points and stuff but I had to let it go for awhile because of my busy schedule now. As to mental health not all games affect people the same way.
i have a full time job and a family, i turn on animal crossing for a few minutes and i feel these two things:
1. I can collect the money tree, dig a few fossils and buy some clothes, and it'll all be worth the time.
2. I don't have enough time or in-game money to re-shape the island and move houses around.
A fellow NL poster gave me some tips last week but i need to find time to put them in practice.
I have something of a gaming addiction where I use it to escape self-care obligations and replace the need for social interaction, so I'd say Animal Crossing has had a negative impact on my mental health...
I did suffer a second bout of burnout with ACNH, but then I rediscovered Stardew Valley, which is much more my speed (literally)
Love the game, it's a great chill out title and the island design tool is great too.
I got an email about that survey, but I didn't see what was in it for me, so I declined to participate. They could have at least given us something for our time, like a free game from the eShop, or an exclusive piece of in-game swag for New Horizons.
Animal Crossing is positive for mental health, in that it's great escapism. If you want to forget your troubles, you can spend ages redesigning your island. The game is also slightly negative in that you can feel compelled not to miss things like meteor showers, or check every day just in case you find that rare thing you still don't have the recipe for (I still haven't got the Cutting Board or blue roses). Overall, it's a good piece of software, but it could do with lessening the rarity of some things.
I work in a Mental Health institution, and I love videogames...the survey might work but the poll in the site will be a complete landslide in favor of videogames hahaha. There is an inherent bias in the fanbase for this industry (and most others of course) to idealize and overestate the positive effect their hobby and passion had in their lives.
@Joriss This will always be the ''quarantine'' game, I think for many people all over the world. It helped people feel better.
@Yomerodes Video games have the wonderful capacity to make people happy, if only for a short while. That's why I love them so much, for sure.
Animal Crossing always follows the same basic pattern. It's an obsession for a good long while (Longer than most AAA games, to be fair). Then it starts to become a chore, but I still have some monkey I need to get off my back. (Maybe I want every bug, maybe I want every house upgrade...) Then I achieve that goal and play for a while longer. Then the futility sets in, I realize I've been working a job instead of playing a game, and the game collects dust.
You'd think that means I don't like it, but I REALLY do appreciate it during those blissful few months of Zen-like progress.
Played it for about a month and inevitably got bored of it like I always do. There's just not enough there, the interactions get stale quickly and there doesn't seem like much to do besides decorate a small island in ways that are juuuust limited enough to be annoying. I feel even compared to previous animal crossings that there was actually less there and the wonder died out quickly.
On the days when I need to relax my mind I just boot up Minecraft or Stardew Valley or Cities Skylines. Games with a lot of creativity but more going on than AC too.
After one year, and repetitive holidays, i thought I would give it up. But, that 20 minute daily game loop is so satisfying and calming. I continue to play it since buying it at launch. I absolutely believe this game has improved my mental health.
100%. I bought it to help with anxiety. Its the most therapeutic game I've ever played
Not played New Horizons for a while but I’ll be back for Christmas as always for Animal Crossing games. I did have the urge last week to whip out the ol’ Animal Forest for N64 and had some fun looking at my weed ridden town. Man, I love that soundtrack.
It definitely helped me last year when it came to my mental health. Still playing it to this day. I have restarted my island four times. The funny thing is it’s the only Switch game I play consistently.
@Yomerodes There is an inherent bias in the fanbase for this industry (and most others of course) to idealize and overestate the positive effect their hobby and passion had in their lives.
That's a understatement so unless games were made for mental cognitive rehabilitation then most games don't fit that.
I played New Leaf daily (with a break every couple of months or so) from release up until the newest mainline game, and I plan to do the same with New Horizons ^_^
I had a blast with the game, and I kinda want to hop back in and maybe do some remodelling.
But I already did almost everything there is to do in the game and have almost every item I could reasonably want.
I want a big "Welcome Amiibo" scale update. I'd happily even pay for a big DLC update.
But otherwise, I just have no reasons left to play regularly anymore.
RAGE
ACNH induces pure rage, hate, sadness, depression, anger, furry, guilt. I wasted money on this insult to AC fans. This middle finger to Nintendo fans.
I. Must SMASH things!
It was positive until I realized there were no additional nook upgrades and most of the furniture was missing and it had no nintendo items.
Then I was sad.
I stopped playing due to the music; it wasn't as cute and relaxing as in previous titles. Really wish there was an option to turn OFF the music. I think getting to play while just listening to the ocean waves and other sounds of the island would be way more relaxing.
Also the "daily grind" of running around foraging and collecting things felt too much like actual work, gave me anxiety.
Something I miss, from the original, is being able to ask villagers if they need help with anything. Just feels like trying to work your tail off to pay off the house mortgage, which yeah some of us are already doing that in real life; decorating the house doesn't make up for the fact that it's just work, not as fun as it used to be.
I didn't put more than 3 or 4 months into it after it came out. Then uninstalled it. Sadly it felt like a let down to me, when I loved all the other games in the series.
@Clyde_Radcliffe yep!
@Kislevi03one you should try New Leaf, it's on the 3ds though,but much better 😊
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