Cozy Games: How COVID-19 Affected Game Playing Among College Students
Open AccessThe COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed people’s lives, affecting how individuals choose to spend their leisure time during lockdown during unpredictable circumstances. While many countries had strict policies regarding international travel during the pandemic, international students in the United States experienced more stressful circumstances than domestic students, including discrimination, loneliness, and many other negative emotions (Maleku, 2022). Chinese students made up around 30 percent of all international students in 2020, and they were generally unable to purchase plane tickets to their hometowns during the pandemic.Video gaming, in different categories and with different contents, has become one of the most popular activities during the pandemic (Şener et al., 2021). In recent years, the notion of “cozy games” has become popular among video gamers, which refers to games whose goal is to make players feel relaxed. Unlike other types of games, cozy games were considered to provide many more positive emotions that enhanced players’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic (Wäppling et al., 2022). This research aims to understand how cozy games affected players’ well-being during the pandemic, with a focus on three examples of cozy games, including Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Genshin Impact. The researcher recruited 15 participants from online gaming sites and forums to better understand Chinese students’ personal experiences of video gaming. The research findings indicate that video gaming resulted in minor negative impacts such as wasted time. However, video gaming positively impacted players’ well-being through sociocultural and psychological aspects.
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