Gamelan Land: A Multiplayer Virtual Reality Game based on a Social Presence Approach

Abstract

A Multiplayer Virtual Reality Game (MVRG) was developed in order to support experiences in learning and playing orchestral music through a virtual world called the Gamelan Land (GL) game. The GL game was aimed as a virtual place to support interaction between musicians and Gamelan enthusiasts who are spread all over the world. It supports them carrying out Gamelan community activities in the real world into a virtual world through immersive virtual experiences. The story developed in the GL game reflects the real life of the Gamelan community. Oculus Quest 2 which is a Head Mounted Displays (HMD) device that can deliver highly immersive 3D environments was selected as the platform to run the Gamelan music MVRG provided in the GL game. The performance of the Gamelan music MVRG shows promising results. Improvement of audio and visual latency in playing music in orchestra is still a problem to be solved. The problem can be caused by differences in internet network speed and device specifications. So far, low poly 3D models can be an alternative solution. Moreover, although it still requires testing involving more users and longer time, the social presence approach in the GL game can be implemented well and has promising prospects for further development.