Cross-Reality Gaming: Comparing Competition and Collaboration in an Asymmetric Gaming Experience

Due to the level of immersion and differences in the user interface, there can be a very large discrepancy in the user experience between users in immersive systems and non-immersive systems when playing games together. To investigate the impact of the cross-reality experience, which refers to the asymmetric use of eXtended Reality, we aim to understand the different affordances and experiences in an asymmetric setup, where one participant uses a desktop setup with a mouse and keyboard, and one uses a virtual reality (VR) headset and controller in two different task modes, Competition or Collaboration. In our research, a pair of participants played a game in real-time, using either the VR setup or the desktop setup. In Competition mode, the two participants were asked to defeat each other. In Collaboration mode, the pair of participants played as a team and were asked to defeat a pair of AI enemies. Our results show the VR group reported a better gaming experience and perceptual responses compared to the desktop group regardless of game mode, but that the desktop group showed superior gaming performance compared to the VR group in Competition mode.