KickAR: Exploring game balancing through boosts and handicaps in augmented reality table football

Katja Rogers, Mark Colley, David Lehr, Julian Frommel, Marcel Walch, Lennart E. Nacke, Michael Weber

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

When player skill levels are not matched, games provide an unsatisfying player experience. Player balancing is used across many digital game genres to address this, but has not been studied for co-located augmented reality (AR) tabletop games, where using boosts and handicaps can adjust for different player skill levels. In the setting of an AR table football game, we studied the importance of game balancing being triggered by the game system or the players, and whether player skill should be required to trigger game balancing. We implemented projected icons to prominently display game balancing mechanics in the AR table football game. In a within-subjects study (N=24), we found players prefer skill-based control over game balancing and that different triggers are perceived as having different fairness. Further, the study showed that even game balancing that is perceived as unfair can provide enjoyable game experiences. Based on our findings, we provide suggestions for player balancing in AR tabletop games.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCHI 2018 - Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Subtitle of host publicationEngage with CHI
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)9781450356206, 9781450356213
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Apr 2018
Event2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2018 - Montreal, Canada
Duration: 21 Apr 201826 Apr 2018

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
Volume2018-April

Conference

Conference2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2018
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityMontreal
Period21/04/1826/04/18

Keywords

  • Augmented reality
  • Foosball
  • Game balancing
  • Handicap
  • Mario kart effect
  • Player experience

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