Nevertheless, the artifacts are also disparate in their focus. The VR artifacts 1 being produced-and related findings on how asymmetric game designs affect player experience (PX)-are novel and innovative because this is an emerging research field. With the influx of research in this context, asymmetric multiplayer games are emerging as a subfield of VR games research. Asymmetric games explicitly incorporate and design for differences between players in how they interact with the game, and for the abilities and information the players possess within the game world. However, while asymmetry of player interfaces is increasingly common in VR experiences (rooted in cross-reality paradigms), there are many other asymmetry types that can be designed ( Harris et al., 2016). These interactions of HMD players with non-HMD players can be considered a type of asymmetry: a difference in the interface with which users interact with the VE. Examples include giving bystanders insight into the virtual environments (VEs) inhabited by the HMD player (e.g., via a monitor displaying their camera perspective Jeong et al., 2020), or an active role in the game (e.g., giving them essential information that the HMD player requires, thus enforcing communication Liszio and Masuch, 2016 Smilovitch and Lachman, 2019). These game designs can leverage the benefits of multiplayer game experiences (e.g., supporting social connectedness Woods, 2009 Vella et al., 2019) without requiring additional HMDs. This isolation risk has inspired game designs that enhance the VR experience by including bystanders as co-players. Nevertheless, the immersive quality of VR technologies, in particular head-mounted displays (HMDs), has also received criticism for its potentially isolating characteristics, both technologically and socially ( Boland and McGill, 2015). Proponents praise VR’s ability to facilitate novel and immersive experiences. Virtual reality (VR) technology has received immense interest from researchers, developers, designers, and the games industry alike in recent years. Moreover, we discuss how research artifacts address prior theoretical work and present a “best fit” framework of asymmetric multiplayer VR games for the community to build upon. We provide an overview of this emerging subfield and identify gaps and opportunities for future research. In this article, we present a literature review of asymmetry in multiplayer VR games, using a framework synthesis method to assess the field through a lens of existing literature on asymmetries in gameplay. Exploring these asymmetries resulted in many artifacts, creating an innovative yet disparate research landscape that showcases points for improvement in coverage of the field and theoretical underpinnings. A common goal is to induce social interactions that draw players without head-mounted displays into a shared game world. Increasingly, virtual reality (VR) design and research leverages gameplay asymmetries, flattening discrepancies of interface, abilities, information or other aspects between players. 5Institute of Media Informatics, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.4Human-Computer Interaction, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
3Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.2Department of Communication Arts, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.1HCI Games Group, The Games Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.This has had an effect on virtual world usage in that the numbers of online players has dropped.īut there are adults who continue to use virtual worlds.Katja Rogers 1,2,3*, Sukran Karaosmanoglu 4, Dennis Wolf 5, Frank Steinicke 4 and Lennart E. Social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare have captured people’s attention. What many of these games have in common is social interaction, role playing (RPG), games and the ability to buy and sell virtual products.īut the popularity of these games has been affected to a certain extent by the rise in social media. This virtual world has risen rapidly up the rankings to reach the number 1 spot. No prizes for guessing that Second Life is the number one virtual world. So what are the top ten virtual worlds for adults? Everyone has their preferences but it does seem to be the case that some virtual worlds are used much more often than others.
There are certain virtual worlds which are more popular with adults than others.
0 kommentar(er)
