Player Transcripts from qualitative interviews for the thesis project Playing through the Pandemic: A Psychocultural Analysis of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants who had engaged with the game during periods of social restriction. The semi-structured format enabled a flexible approach, allowing participants to reflect on their experiences of gameplay, social interaction, and emotional engagement while also ensuring that key themes relevant to the research questions were addressed. Interviews focused on participants’ in-game activities, their relationships with other players, and the meanings they attributed to their virtual environments and avatars. The interview material was analysed using a psychocultural framework, drawing on psychoanalytic concepts to examine how gameplay functioned as a space for emotional regulation, connection, and imaginative engagement during a period of uncertainty and isolation.