Socio-Demographic and Psychological Determinants of Presence in a Gaming Experience

Most research on the determinants of Presence focuses on aspects within the technology. Research on user characteristics and how they affect Presence is rather scarce. This paper presents the results from a stepwise multiple regression analysis in which the experienced Presence in video games is predicted by a set of user characteristics, among which three psychological constructs: the perceived analogy between the video game world and reality (Analogue Expectations), the perceived aliveness of the computer (Computer as Sort of Alive) and the perception of the video game as a source of experimentation (Experimentation). The regression results initially revealed that Gender, Age and Education were not significant predictors of the experienced Presence in video games, while Average Play Time and General Interest in video games were. When the three psychological constructs were added to the model all three constructs significantly and positively predicted the experienced Presence in video games. Keywords--Determinants of Presence, Video Games, User Characteristics