XR MUSE: An Open-Source Unity Framework for Extended Reality-Based Networked Multi-User Studies

In recent years, extended reality (XR) technologies have been increasingly used as a research tool in behavioral studies. They allow experimenters to conduct user studies in simulated environments that are both controllable and reproducible across participants. However, creating XR experiences for such studies remains challenging, particularly in networked, multi-user setups that investigate collaborative or competitive scenarios. Numerous aspects need to be implemented and coherently integrated, e.g., in terms of user interaction, environment configuration, and data synchronization. To reduce this complexity and facilitate development, we present the open-source Unity framework XR MUSE for devising user studies in shared virtual environments. The framework provides various ready-to-use components and sample scenes that researchers can easily customize and adapt to their specific needs.