BragFish: exploring physical and social interaction in co-located handheld augmented reality games

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we present our research on social interaction in co-located handheld augmented reality (AR) games. These games are characterized by shared physical spaces that promote physical awareness among players, and individual gaming devices that support both public and private information. One result of our exploration of the design and evaluation of such games is a prototype called BragFish. Through BragFish, we aim to investigate the connections between the observed game experience (focusing on social and physical interaction) and the designed affordances of our AR handheld game. Our evaluation of BragFish shows that most of our participants form strategies for social play by leveraging visual, aural and physical cues from the shared space. Moreover, we use this as an example to motivate discussions on how to improve social play experiences for co-located handheld games by designing for shared spaces.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.1 Multimedia Information Systems

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Human Factors

Keywords:
augmented reality, co-located handheld games, social play