Issue 3.9: A Tale of Two Case Studies
What Diablo: Immortal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons Tell Us about Games' Psychological and Sociological Effects
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Game & Word, Volume 3, Issue 9: Sunday, Jul. 17, 2022
Publisher: Jay Rooney
Author, Graphics, Research: Jay Rooney
Logo: Jarnest Media
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YOU, for reading this issue.
Table of Contents
Summary & Housekeeping
Feature: “A Tale of Two Case Studies” (~45 minute read)
Food for Talk: Discussion Prompts
Further Reading
Game & Word-of-Mouth
Footnotes
Summary:
Today, we’ll use two games—Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Diablo: Immortal—to illustrate video games’ myriad potential psychological benefits and pitfalls. We won’t be dwelling on violent video games here, as their dangers are HUGELY overstated by the reactionary mainstream media and clueless moral gatekeepers.
And the more of our collective bandwidth we waste on the non-issue of violence in games, the less we have left to talk about the ways in which video games do affect players. Both for better (social connection, mindfulness, self-care, therapy) and for worse (addictive game design, predatory monetization schemes).
Let this issue be a starting point for some much-needed conversations.
Previous Issues:
Volume 1 (The Name of the Game): Issue 1 ● Issue 2 ● Issue 3 ● Issue 4
Volume 2 (Yo Ho Ho, It’s a Gamer’s Life for Me): Issue 1 ● Issue 2 ● Issue 3 ● Bonus 1 ● Issue 4 ● Issue 5 ● Issue 6 ● Issue 7 ● Bonus 2 ● Issue 8 ● Bonus 3
Volume 3 (Game Over Matter): Intro ● Issue 1 ● Issue 2 ● Issue 3 ● Podcast 1 ● Issue 4 ● Video Podcast 1 ● Bonus 1 ● Issue 5 ● Podcast 2 ● Issue 6 ● Issue 7 ● Issue 8
Housekeeping:
I’m Back!
Hello again, dear readers! And thank you once again for all your support, especially after this issue’s delay. But now I’m back, and ready to take Volume 3 to the finish line! But first, I’ve got a few housekeeping items to go through.
Get Ready for Game & Word: Volume 4!
I hope you’ve enjoyed Volume 3: Game Over Mind so far—next week, we will wrap it up, and I’ll start preparing for the next series of Game & Word:
Volume 4: Tempus Ludos
That’s Latin for “time for games,” which is a play on the much more famous Latin adage, “tempus fugit” (that’s “time flies” in English). And now you know!
Whoever said “time moves for no man” was clearly never a gamer. For video games have provided countless thought-provoking experiences on time and how we experience it.
In the physical world, time is linear. But games, unlike other media, can provide truly and completely non-linear experiences. This (along with other innovative mechanics) has added a whole new experiential layer to stories about time travel, timeline shifts, parallel universes, and other temporal phenomena. In fact, one of gaming’s most beloved titles of all time, Chrono Trigger, accessibly explores these mind-bending concepts through a riveting and moving story.
Even games with linear plots can serve as uniquely powerful meditations on impermanence, entropy, and the passage of time. Some, like Gris and Spiritfarer, ponder the greatest mystery of all: death. Others, like Civilization VI: Gathering Storm and the aforementioned Chrono Trigger, implore us to create a better future—lest we suffer the harrowing alternatives.
Video games can also open a window into the past. We’ve already examined their applications for teaching history. But what about archeology? Classic game franchises Tomb Raider and Uncharted star archaeologist protagonists. Some more recent Indies have taken great pains to accurately depict their chosen historical eras (like The Forgotten City does) or even the process of archaeology itself (which earned Heaven’s Vault praise from IRL archaeologists). And the Assassin’s Creed series’ developers are consistently lauded for painstakingly recreating their historic locales, much as an actual archaeologist would—and they’re not the only ones that take this approach.
Even games set in completely fictional universes, like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, are dotted with ruins that can serve as great “field” exercises for archaeologists-in-training. And that’s not even getting into the space archaeology of titles like No Man Sky.
Finally, we’ve got the more esoteric and philosophical question of what, exactly, time is—and not just in a physical sense. Modern physics has given us a solid understanding of the workings of time, but such knowledge is incredibly dense and hard to wrap one’s mind around. Could playing games based around time loops—like The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask and the penultimate chapter of Eastward—help laypeople grasp the topic without descending into madness?
Join us for Volume 4 as we explore all of this, and more!
Upcoming Scheduling & Structure Changes
As much as I’ve enjoyed writing Volume 3, I will admit that keeping up with it was a tad… overwhelming. As such, I want to give myself as much lead time as possible beforehand, so I can adequately research, book podcast guests, edit audio/video, properly proofread, etc. and not have to do a mad scramble each week. As such, there will be a three-week hiaitus for free content as I get everything ready.
Please note that bonus subscribers will still receive content during this period. So if you want more gaming goodness, consider upgrading your subscription!
Also, for Volume 4, I will be consolidating main and bonus content into a single weekly newsletter. I’ll structure it such that free subscribers will still get a good overview of the topic, while bonus subscribers can go really deep. I will also be offering a special rate for new subscribers to commemorate the new volume’s launch.
Stay tuned for updates on all of this, and more!
Still Seeking Playtesters!
Hey, remember how I mentioned that I’m learning how to make video games? My team and I are still looking for playtesters. We’ll have an alpha build ready to test in about a week, and we’ll incorporate your feedback as we work towards our beta. The game’s concept is a steampunk tavern simulator.
If you’re interested, join the team’s Discord server via the following link:
(FYI—That link expires in a week. If it doesn’t work for you, feel free to shoot me an email!)
Also, I’m learning how to create video games through my friends at Indie Game Academy (IGA). If you’ve ever wanted to make your own game or run your own studio, I whole heartedly recommend their courses! The faculty at IGA are really awesome, helpful, and knowledgeable people, and they’ve given me an even deeper appreciation for video games. Check them out—even if you’ve never written a line of code in your life.
You can also follow my progress through the IGA blog, where I post regular updates. So far, I’ve interviewed veteran game designer Tony Scharma (currently at Wizards of the Coast), and put together a non-coder’s guide to prototyping a game.
Game & Word is a reader-supported publication. To support my work and keep this newsletter free and available to all, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber:
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Feature: A Tale of Two Case Studies
🚨🚨🚨 SPOILER ALERT 🚨🚨🚨
This post contains visual spoilers for Diablo: Immortal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Well, insofar as one could spoil a game like Animal Crossing… I guess? In any case, you've been warned!
⚠️⚠️⚠️ CONTENT WARNING ⚠️⚠️⚠️
This article contains discussions of mental health, including gambling addiction, social isolation, compulsive behavior (especially problematic gaming) and the collective trauma we all endured throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. If these topics upset you, it’s ok to skip this one. Please note that there will be no specially marked sections, as the entire article discusses these topics in some way or another.
This article’s not nearly as intense as the last one, but if you’re easily distressed, please proceed with caution.
So, now that we’ve wrapped up how video games portray different psychological concepts, it’s time to address the artifact in the image: how do video games and psychology intersect in the real world?
I’ve written on this topic before, in a 2019 article that would eventually launch my nascent career as a games writer. I explored the possible therapeutic applications of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and the piece netted me over 10,000 views, 2,000 Reddit upvotes, and a ~$6.57 payout from Medium.1 So it must have struck a chord with lots of people.
But even in just three years, the field of game psychology has changed in some key ways (and, regrettably, remained unchanged in others).