I Will Stand by You: Measuring the Perceived Social Presence towards Semi-Autonomous Companions in a 2D Game

This paper investigates the players’ perceived social presence and willingness to support pet-like companions within a computer game. In detail, we raised the question of whether subjects will experience a higher degree of social presence towards a companion when this companion acts more autonomously than a companion that does not show any autonomous behavior? We created an experimental setting with two conditions realized via a puzzle game prototype to investigate this question. Ten subjects took part in a study (within-subject design). Results show that, in general, companions with a higher degree of autonomy lead to a higher degree of social presence. However, this applies only to basic forms of social presence. Some players noted that the social bond did not go beyond the game. With our discoveries, we want to provide researchers insights into pet companions’ design in games and help game designers create social bonds between the players and their companions.