Abstract

The bachelor thesis deals with the effect of Social Facilitation in digital games with reference to different degrees of difficulty. The effect implies that people solve a task in a better way, when another person is present. But the effect shows an inverse impact if the task is difficult because in that case the performance of the person is declining and the effect of social inhibition occurs. It is very interesting to figure out if we act the same way when a real person or an agent is present. Hence the definition of Social Facilitation and virtual agents will be discussed. In a study with 64 test persons I will focus on the research aspect of varying low and high levels of difficulty in context to the presence and absence of an agent. Following this, four groups with 16 subjects each are evaluated. Using a statistical evaluation I will figure out if the variation of the level of difficulty has an impact whether the effect of social facilitation occurs.