Joint Media Engagement in Families Playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons (AC:NH) launched during the COVID-19 pandemic and families turned to it as a play together isolation. This interview study of 27 considered how used AC:NH for Joint Media Engagement (JME), where family members engage with media content together, interacting each other bringing additional meaning experience. We find that design well facilitates Takeuchi Stevens's six conditions productive JME. Furthermore, we identify discuss contribute JME: variety flexibility in styles amplify mutual engagement, support disentrained enables new forms "joint" scaffolding affective interactions. is followed by an exploration affected conclude implications building games JME through persistent shared spaces, flexible in-game progress, social life simulation.