Studying multi-user settings for pervasive games

Whenever a pervasive game has to be developed for a group of children an appropriate multi-user setting has to be found. If the pervasive game does not support the children with an adequate multi-user setting, unintended situations can emerge, such as a single user can dominate the game while the other users are bored and disinterested. In our research we approach that problem by investigating various multiuser settings that are characterized by a different distribution of interaction devices. We describe three multi-user settings, a pervasive game which we used as a test bed, and a user study with 18 children to find out how the multiuser settings influence the children’s social behaviour as expressed by the level of activity for all group members, the offtask behaviour and the level of task-related conversations. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: User Interfaces—evaluation/methodology, input devices and strategies General Ter...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: MHCI
• Authors: Karin Leichtenstern, Elisabeth André
• Keywords: Human Computer Interaction, MHCI 2009, Multi-user Settings, Multiuser Settings, Pervasive Game