Skip to main content
Log in

Using presence to evaluate an augmented reality location aware game

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Location-aware augmented reality games provide players with a rich and potentially unlimited range of interaction possibilities. In this paper, a study is described which uses a number of measurement techniques including questionnaires, direct observation, semi-structured interviews and video analysis to measure player’s sense of presence. The paper points to the importance of the availability of actions within augmented reality games and how this shapes their sense of presence. The findings indicate that such an approach to measuring presence can provide valuable information on the structure of augmented reality location-aware games.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bailenson JN, Blascovich J, Beall AC, Loomis JM (2001) Equilibrium revisited: mutual gaze and personal space in virtual environments. Presence Teleoperators Virtual Environ 10:583–598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Ballagas RA, Kratz SG, Borchers J, Yu E, Walz SP, Fuhr CO, Hovestadt L, Tann M (2007) REXplorer: a mobile, pervasive spell-casting game for tourists. Conference on human factors in computing systems, San Jose, CA, USA, pp 1929–1934

  3. Benford S, Crabtree A, Reeves S, Flintham M, Drozd A, Sheridan J, Dix A (2006) The frame of the game: blurring the boundary between fiction and reality in mobile experiences. Proceedings the 2006 ACM CHI conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, Montreal, pp 427–436

    Google Scholar 

  4. Benyon D, Smyth M, O’Neill S, McCall R, Carrol F (2006) The place probe: exploring a sense of place in real and virtual environments. J Presence Tele Oper Virtual Environ 15(6):668–687

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Cheok A, Goh KH, Liu W, Farbiz F, Fong SW, Teo SL, Li Y, Yang X (2004) Human Pacman: a mobile, wide-area entertainment system based on physical, social, and ubiquitous computing. Personal Ubiquitous Comput 8(2):71–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Csikszentmihalyi M (1990) Flow: the psychology of optimal experience. Harper Perennial, New York

    Google Scholar 

  7. Ericsson M (2003) Enchanting reality: a vision of big experiences on small platforms. In: Copier M, Raessens J (eds) Level up. Digital games research conference 4–6 November 2003 proceedings. Universiteit Utrecht, Utrecht

    Google Scholar 

  8. Gibson JJ (1979) The ecological approach to visual perception. Erlbaum, Hilldale

    Google Scholar 

  9. Gustavson P (2001) Meanings of place: everyday experience and theoretical conceptualizations. J Environ Psychol 21:5–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Herbst I, Braun A, McCall R, Broll W (2008) TimeWarp: interactive time travel with a mobile mixed reality game. In: Proceedings of the 10th international conference on human computer interaction with mobile devices and services (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2–5 September 2008). MobileHCI '08. ACM, New York, NY, pp 235–244

  11. Huizenga J, Admiraal W, Akkerman S, Dam GT (2007) Learning history by playing a mobile city game. In: Remenyi D (ed) Proceedings of the 1st European conference on game-based learning (ECGBL) October 2007, University of Paisley, Paisley, Scotland. Academic Conferences Limited, Reading, pp 127–134

    Google Scholar 

  12. Lindt I, Ohlenburg J, Pankoke-Babatz U, Ghellal S (2007) A report on the crossmedia game epidemic menace. ACM Computers in Entertainment (CIE) 5(1)

  13. Mantovani G, Riva G (1999) “Real” presence: how different ontologies generate different criteria for presence, telepresence, and virtual presence. Presence Teleoper Virtual Environ 5(8):538–548

    Google Scholar 

  14. Milgram P, Kishino F (1994) A taxonomy of mixed reality visual displays. IEICE Trans Inf Syst 77:1321–1329

    Google Scholar 

  15. Montola M (2005) Exploring the edge of the magic circle. Defining pervasive games. DAC 2005 conference, December 3. IT University of Copenhagen

  16. Piekarski W, Thomas B (2002) ARQuake: the outdoor augmented reality gaming system. Commun ACM 45(1):36–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Relph E (1976) Place and placelessness. Pion Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  18. Sweetser P, Wyeth P (2005) Gameflow: a model for evaluating player enjoyment in games. ACM Comput Entertain 3(3):1–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Vorderer P, Wirth W, Gouveia FR, Biocca F, Saari T, Jäncke F, Böcking S, Schramm H, Gysbers A, Hartmann T, Klimmt C, Laarni J, Ravaja N, Sacau A, Baumgartner T, Jäncke P (2004) MEC spatial presence questionnaire (MEC-SPQ): short documentation and instructions for application. Report to the European community, project presence: MEC (IST-2001-37661). Online. Available from http://www.ijk.hmt-hannover.de/Presence

  20. Wetzel R, Lindt I, Waern A, Johnson S (2008) The magic lens box: simplifying the development of mixed reality games. In: Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on digital interactive media in entertainment and arts (Athens, Greece, 10–12 September 2008). DIMEA '08, vol. 349. ACM, New York, NY, pp 479–486

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rod McCall.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McCall, R., Wetzel, R., Löschner, J. et al. Using presence to evaluate an augmented reality location aware game. Pers Ubiquit Comput 15, 25–35 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-010-0306-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-010-0306-8

Keywords

Navigation