Watch Out! XR Mobile Displays Improve the Experience of Co-Located VR Gaming Observers

Co-located social gaming with players and observers talking to each other is commonplace. However, it becomes less attractive when using virtual reality (VR): while VR increases players’ presence by immersing them in a virtual world, it also shuts out their observing friends. We investigate whether extended reality (XR) can improve the observer experience by giving them agency over their viewpoint in the game and personalizing the representation they see of the player. In a user study, 24 pairs of players and observers experienced co-located VR gaming. Observers either watched the player’s gameplay on a stationary screen i) from the player’s viewpoint or ii) controlling their viewpoint with a gamepad, or on an XR-enabled mobile screen controlling their viewpoint by moving the screen iii) with the player represented as a generic game avatar or iv) a personalized avatar obtained through live player footage augmentation. Results show that giving observers agency over their viewpoint with an XR-enabled mobile screen provides substantial benefits to presence and observers’ overall experience.