MOFA.ar
2021 - 2023
overview
As the prevalence of Mixed Reality (MR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) grows, the context of collocated MR gaming is evolving from private, controlled environments to spontaneous, public settings, echoing speculative fiction scenarios. Everyday locales are thus transformed into potential gaming stages, blurring the line between designated play areas and the public realm. This evolution prompts the need for game designs that cater to all present individuals, including HMD players ("Wizards") and non-HMD bystanders ("Muggles"). Addressing this scantily researched field, we developed the Multiplayer Omnipresent Fighting Arena (MOFA) framework, utilizing device asymmetry and role diversification as affordance to actively engage every participant. MOFA's MR game prototypes—The Training, The Duel, The Duck, The Dragon, and the Ghost—demonstrate through empirical studies indicate that MOFA involving "Muggles" strategically not only enhances social engagement but also diminishes social awkwardness, leading to a shared reality that is more inclusive and entertaining in public space.
MOFA was honored as the best interactivity demo at CHI 2023.
citation
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@inproceedings{10.1145/3544549.3583935,author = {Hu, Botao and Zhang, Yuchen and Hao, Sizheng and Tao, Yilan},title = {MOFA: Exploring Asymmetric Mixed Reality Design Strategy for Co-located Multiplayer Between Handheld and Head-mounted Augmented Reality},year = {2023},isbn = {9781450394222},publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},address = {New York, NY, USA},url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3544549.3583935},doi = {10.1145/3544549.3583935},abstract = {For co-located multiplayer asymmetric Mixed Reality (MR) scenarios involving both Handheld Augmented Reality (HAR) and head-mounted Stereoscopic Augmented Reality (StAR) devices, we propose a design strategy to distinguish the roles of different players based on the affordances, limitations, and capabilities of these two kinds of AR devices. Specifically, the roles include: a HAR player as a third-person passive participant (termed spectator), a third-person active participant (termed puppeteer), a first-person participant, and a first-person partial-information participant; and a StAR player as a first-person participant and a first-person partial-information participant. In order to explore this concept, we designed four multiplayer MR game prototypes: The Duck, The Ghost, The Dragon, and The Duel to demonstrate strategies for creating interesting, engaging, and strategic cooperative experiences between players.},booktitle = {Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},articleno = {462},numpages = {4},keywords = {mixed reality, collocated multiplayer, asymmetric game design, Augmented reality},location = {<conf-loc>, <city>Hamburg</city>, <country>Germany</country>, </conf-loc>},series = {CHI EA '23}}
