Track: Industry Solutions

Abstract

The pandemic outbreak has caused a major crisis and change in all areas, resulting all sectors need to innovate and adapt to this condition. Limitations and restrictions have made interactivity between human beings decreasing or even, disappearing. Entertainment sector, especially gaming sector tried to resolve this interactivity problems by creating a virtual social game experience (VSGE), which is a form of social game which is played virtually with interactivity and social presence as its basic principles. This study aims to identify social presence in VSGE including the variable and what might cause it. The social presence in VSGE is measured by looking at the sense of co-presence, behaviour of the players, and the players’ psychological involvement when ‘experiencing’ the game. Mixed method, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used for this study.  Online questionnaire was used to gain the perception of the players regarding social presence using Likert scale, and FGD was carried out to expand the answers of the participants. The results of this research indicate that VSGE is capable to facilitate players’ need in interactivity and social presence during the game. The host played an important role in leading the game and providing a good connection with the players.