The Impact of Cultures and the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaming Motivation

Abstract

Are the motivations to play Animal Crossing New Horizons a culturally universal phenomenon with the COVID-19 pandemic? To answer this question, there is a major problem with game studies from psychological perspectives. It is the virtual absence of cross-cultural research regarding all of video game titles. This study examines the role of national cultural values, as defined by Hofstede (2001), in trans-national differences in the motivations towards the game by utilizing online questionnaire and statistical analysis. The findings revealed that the primary motivation is “recreation”, and there are links between it and cultural values underlying each country titled “Indulgence vs Restraint” and “Long-term Orientation vs Short-term Orientation.