StuckInSpace: exploring the difference between two mediums of play in a multi-modal virtual reality game
StuckInSpace: exploring the difference between two mediums of play in a multi-modal virtual reality game
With the rising popularity of Virtual Reality (VR), there is also a rising interest in co-located multiplayer experiences, as people want to play VR games together with their friends. As having multiple VR headsets is out of reach to the average consumer, we need to look into different possible ways of including multiple people in this play space. We have created a multi-modal co-located multiplayer VR game, Stuck in Space, that introduces a second player in two ways - one with a PC (the baseline that a lot of current games do), as well as a tracked Phone that can be used as a `window into the virtual world'. We have conducted a user study (n=24) where we explore the difference in immersion and co-presence between the two versions using two questionnaires (IPQ and NMMoSP), as well as a thematic analysis of the subsequent interview data, from which 5 themes emerged. Surprisingly, we found no significant difference in co-presence or immersion based on the quantitative data. However, the qualitative analysis helps reveal one of the main reasons why that is - maintaining a mental model of the real world while also being in the virtual world makes it harder for the person wearing the headset to immerse themselves and feel co-present. From these themes and sub-themes we theorize that each of the two versions has positives and negatives that cancel each other out in the quantitative data, and for there to be a difference we would need to accentuate or change certain elements of the game. The results show that introducing a second player through a Phone is not detrimental in terms of co-presence and immersion and that it is a viable way of doing so, although certain design considerations would have to be taken into account to minimize the negatives.
Co-Presence, Immersion, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Multi-modality, Co-located, StuckInSpace, Asymmetrical play
5-18
Malinov, Yoan-Daniel
05830d5b-482f-4753-b094-9a1224488e02
Millard, David
4f19bca5-80dc-4533-a101-89a5a0e3b372
Blount, Tom
4d4db315-08d9-4701-9604-1e99c60879fb
Malinov, Yoan-Daniel
05830d5b-482f-4753-b094-9a1224488e02
Millard, David
4f19bca5-80dc-4533-a101-89a5a0e3b372
Blount, Tom
4d4db315-08d9-4701-9604-1e99c60879fb
Malinov, Yoan-Daniel, Millard, David and Blount, Tom
(2021)
StuckInSpace: exploring the difference between two mediums of play in a multi-modal virtual reality game.
In Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR).
IEEE.
.
(In Press)
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
With the rising popularity of Virtual Reality (VR), there is also a rising interest in co-located multiplayer experiences, as people want to play VR games together with their friends. As having multiple VR headsets is out of reach to the average consumer, we need to look into different possible ways of including multiple people in this play space. We have created a multi-modal co-located multiplayer VR game, Stuck in Space, that introduces a second player in two ways - one with a PC (the baseline that a lot of current games do), as well as a tracked Phone that can be used as a `window into the virtual world'. We have conducted a user study (n=24) where we explore the difference in immersion and co-presence between the two versions using two questionnaires (IPQ and NMMoSP), as well as a thematic analysis of the subsequent interview data, from which 5 themes emerged. Surprisingly, we found no significant difference in co-presence or immersion based on the quantitative data. However, the qualitative analysis helps reveal one of the main reasons why that is - maintaining a mental model of the real world while also being in the virtual world makes it harder for the person wearing the headset to immerse themselves and feel co-present. From these themes and sub-themes we theorize that each of the two versions has positives and negatives that cancel each other out in the quantitative data, and for there to be a difference we would need to accentuate or change certain elements of the game. The results show that introducing a second player through a Phone is not detrimental in terms of co-presence and immersion and that it is a viable way of doing so, although certain design considerations would have to be taken into account to minimize the negatives.
Text
StuckInSpace: Exploring the Difference Between Two Different Mediums of Play in a Multi-Modal Virtual Reality Game (IEEE VR PrePrint)
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Submitted date: 18 November 2020
Accepted/In Press date: 29 January 2021
Venue - Dates:
IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR), Lisbon, Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal, 2021-03-27 - 2021-04-03
Keywords:
Co-Presence, Immersion, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Multi-modality, Co-located, StuckInSpace, Asymmetrical play
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 446461
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/446461
PURE UUID: d2590af0-dcfe-4b37-97f6-64b3e450cf16
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Date deposited: 10 Feb 2021 17:33
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:57
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Contributors
Author:
Yoan-Daniel Malinov
Author:
David Millard
Author:
Tom Blount
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