Anthropomorphism is the process of endowing characters with human traits, and humans naturally tend to rely on anthropomorphism to describe beings in the world. In games, anthropomorphism for characters is actively being carried out, and in Japan, whe...
Anthropomorphism is the process of endowing characters with human traits, and humans naturally tend to rely on anthropomorphism to describe beings in the world. In games, anthropomorphism for characters is actively being carried out, and in Japan, where the character industry has developed, character anthropomorphism is sometimes called ‘mo-e’. Anthropomorphism, which has been widely used in spokesperson characters and advertisements for a long time, has a profound effect on the immersion and use behavior of game services, but related empirical studies are still lacking. Therefore, this study reviewed the literature on previous studies and proposed a research framework based on the three-factor model presented by Epley, Waytz, and Cacioppo(2007). In other words, human imitation characteristic needs, social needs, and efficiency needs are the main characteristics of anthropomorphism, and five variables of anthropomorphic autonomy, emotional investment, sense of companionship, humanlike-fit, and perceived intelligence are used as exogenous variables to demonstrate them. Furthermore the effect of user-character identification, game flow and game satisfaction was set as an endogenous variable. An online survey was conducted on a total of 152 people who had experience in anthropomorphism-based games, and a sample was secured. Before verifying the hypothesis, statistical procedures of reliability analysis and validity test were performed, and then the hypothesis was analyzed using the PLS technique. As a result of hypothesis analysis, emotional investment and perceived intelligence had a significant effect on character identification, and character identification had a significant effect on game flow and game satisfaction. Also, game flow has a direct impact on game satisfaction. The results of this study are expected to provide game service companies with marketing strategies necessary for game character development and practical implications for building relationships with users.