Modelling Team Dynamics in a Mixed-Reality Escape Room Game

Background Extended Reality (XR), encompassing Mixed Reality (MR), is an emerging platform for immersive team collaboration and training, but little is known about how team dynamics and game experience can be measured and modelled in such settings. Aim This study explores whether MR team games can foster cohesion and performance, and develops an exploratory model linking team dynamics, game experience, and team outcomes. Method Using a quasi-experimental pre/post design, 72 participants (24 teams of three) played an MR escape room in a fully immersive CAVE environment. Team dynamics (e.g., cohesion, trust, efficacy) and game experience (e.g., usability, immersion, aesthetics) were assessed with validated scales. Exploratory Factor Analysis (RQ1) examined the construct validity of the measures. Paired t-tests (RQ2–RQ3) tested pre/post changes in cohesion and performance. Structural Equation Modelling (RQ4) explored explanatory relationships among constructs. Results EFA confirmed that the proposed constructs could be empirically distinguished. Pre/post comparisons showed significant increases in cohesion and perceived performance. SEM path analysis indicated that team dynamics and game experience mutually reinforced each other and jointly predicted performance, supporting the efficacy of the MR escape room game as a team-building tool. Conclusion and Future Research The combined results indicate that MR escape rooms can strengthen team dynamics while offering a useful framework for measuring game experience. Although exploratory in scope, this study provides a foundation for confirmatory research with larger samples, control groups, and real-time behavioral and physiological data.