Designing for Dyads: A Comparative User Experience Study of Remote and Face-to-Face Multi-User Interfaces

Collaborative digital games and interfaces are increasingly used in both research and commercial contexts, yet little is known about how the spatial arrangement and interface sharing affect the user experience in dyadic settings. Using a two-player iPad pong game, this study compared user experiences across three collaborative gaming scenarios: face-to-face single-screen (F2F-OneS), face-to-face dual-screen (F2F-DualS), and remote dual-screen (Rmt-DualS) scenarios. Eleven dyads participated in all conditions using a within-subject design. After each session, the participants completed a 21-item user experience questionnaire and took part in brief interviews. The results from a repeated-measure ANOVA and post hoc paired t-tests showed significant scenario effects for several experience items, with F2F-OneS yielding higher engagement, novelty, and accomplishment than remote play, and qualitative interviews supported the quantitative findings, revealing themes of social presence and interaction. These results highlight the importance of spatial and interface design in collaborative settings, suggesting that both technical and social factors should be considered in multi-user interface development.