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The Gang’s All Here: How People Used Games to cope with COVID19 Quarantine

Authors:

Erica Kleinman,

Sara Chojnacki, and

Magy Seif El-NasrAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

May 2021

Article No.: 327, Pages 1 - 12

https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445072

Published: 07 May 2021 Publication History

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Abstract

In 2020, the rapid spread of COVID-19 forced many people to self-isolate, resulting in struggles with mental health [60], and an increase in gaming [3]. In this paper, we seek to examine how individuals used digital games during the quarantine. We conducted a two-tier qualitative study where we used a thematic analysis of tweets to derive questions for an online survey that we distributed. Results of thematic analysis of survey responses identified 15 themes. Some themes confirm previous works’ findings, particularly how games are used to increase social connection or distract oneself from unpleasant situations. We also found new themes unique to the quarantine, such as interactions with non-player characters used as a surrogate for real-world interaction and using in-game routines as a substitute to real-world routines lost due to the pandemic. This work discusses the use of games during the pandemic and can be seeds for future studies.

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Cited By

Tyack AMekler E(2024)Self-Determination Theory and HCI Games Research: Unfulfilled Promises and Unquestioned ParadigmsACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/3673230Online publication date: 15-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3673230
Giardina ASchimmenti AStarcevic VKing DDi Blasi MBillieux J(2024)Problematic gaming, social withdrawal, and EscapismComputers in Human Behavior10.1016/j.chb.2024.108187155:COnline publication date: 2-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108187
Kermavnar TVisch VDesmet P(2023)Games in Times of a Pandemic: Structured Overview of COVID-19 Serious GamesJMIR Serious Games10.2196/4176611(e41766)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2023
https://doi.org/10.2196/41766
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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

May 2021

10862 pages

ISBN:9781450380966

DOI:10.1145/3411764

General Chairs:
Yoshifumi Kitamura
Tohoku University, Japan
,
Aaron Quigley
University of New South Wales, Australia
,
Program Chairs:
Katherine Isbister
University of California Santa Cruz, USA
,
Takeo Igarashi
The University of Tokyo, Japan
,
Publications Chairs:
Pernille Bjørn
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
,
Steven Drucker
Microsoft Research, USA

Copyright © 2021 Owner/Author.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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Published: 07 May 2021

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Cited By

Tyack AMekler E(2024)Self-Determination Theory and HCI Games Research: Unfulfilled Promises and Unquestioned ParadigmsACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/3673230Online publication date: 15-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3673230
Giardina ASchimmenti AStarcevic VKing DDi Blasi MBillieux J(2024)Problematic gaming, social withdrawal, and EscapismComputers in Human Behavior10.1016/j.chb.2024.108187155:COnline publication date: 2-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108187
Kermavnar TVisch VDesmet P(2023)Games in Times of a Pandemic: Structured Overview of COVID-19 Serious GamesJMIR Serious Games10.2196/4176611(e41766)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2023
https://doi.org/10.2196/41766
Sparrow LRogerson M(2023)Lessons from Homebrewed Hybridity: Designing Hybrid Digital Boardgames for Distanced PlayProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36110227:CHI PLAY(45-72)Online publication date: 4-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3611022
Mills CGeiskkovitch DNeustaedter COdom WAxtell B(2023)Remote Wavelength: Design and Evaluation of a System for Social Connectedness Through Distributed Tabletop GameplayProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581142(1-19)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581142
Boldi ARapp A(2023)Making sense of the pandemicInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2023.103141180:COnline publication date: 1-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2023.103141
Yeh CChen T(2023)The role of online game usage in the relationship between initial daily negative moods and subsequent positive moods: The moderating role of hedonistic motivationCurrent Psychology10.1007/s12144-023-04789-643:7(6101-6113)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04789-6
Li GLi MPeng SWang YRan LChen XZhang LZhu SChen QWang WXu YZhang YTan X(2022)Current status and influential factors for family health management during quarantine: A latent category analysisPLOS ONE10.1371/journal.pone.026540617:4(e0265406)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2022
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Arya SSharma MRathee SSingh P(2022)COVID-19 Pandemic, Social Isolation, and Online Gaming Addiction: Evidence From Two Case ReportsJournal of Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health10.1177/0973134222111816418:2(196-198)Online publication date: 16-Sep-2022
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