The influence of social entities in virtual reality games on player experience and immersion

Abstract

Virtual reality games have repeatedly been criticized as being isolating or "anti-social" due to the necessity of covering the player's perception and cognition from the real world in order to allow diving into the game world. Therefore, we investigate approaches to enhance the sociability of VR games by integrating social entities. In a comprehensive study with 75 participants using a testbed game, we compared the impact of a co-player and a virtual agent on virtual reality player experience in terms of enjoyment, perceived loneliness, social presence, and immersion. Results indicate that social entities decrease the perception of loneliness in VR and that their influence on player experience is moderated by their degree of agency and interactivity. Moreover, we found that social entities do not necessarily enhance enjoyment in VR games compared to a single player mode, but can instead also interfere with positive experiences. We conclude that adding a social component to a VR game can enhance player experience by reducing loneliness but requires close consideration to the design and implementation of both social interaction mechanics and the social entity itself.