Emotional effects of shooting activities : 'real' versus 'virtual' actions and targets

The results of an empirical study are presented to investigate the relationship between different action types (real versus virtual shooting) and different target types (real versus virtual targets) on the actual emotional state (wellbeing)of the player. The results show significantly that virtual shooting on real targets in a group (Laser Tag game) enhances the well-being, and on the other side that virtual shooting on virtual targets (Wolfenstein game) diminishes the well-being of an individual player

Determinantes for colloboration in networked multi user games

Game users can behave co-operatively or competitively with other players. An experiment was performed to test the hypothesis that a shared social space (SSS) with continuous and "rich" communication possibilities leads to an increase in forming coalitions. The DOOM game – as a simulation of a competitive world – provides a test environment, where a group of four players has to fight against each other. Two samples of 12 players each were tested playing DOOM: one with the SSS conditions (continuous spoken communication mode, small physical distance among players, no headphones) and another under the condition of separation during the game (discontinuous communication mode: spoken communication only during a break, large physical distance and headphones during the game). During a break all players had have the chance to discuss the outcome of the first trial (group process feedback). The SSS conditions led to a significantly increased amount of coalitions between players. Group process feedback also had a positive effect on the extent of coalitions among players. Finally, design recommendations for networked multi-user games are provided

BUILD-IT : a computer vision-based interaction technique of a planning tool for construction and design

It is time to go beyond the established approaches in human-computer interaction. With the Augmented Reality (AR) design strategy humans are able to behave as much as possible in a natural way: behaviour of humans in the real world with other humans and/or real world objects. Following the fundamental constraints of the natural way of interacting the authors have derived a set of recommendations for the next generation of user interfaces: the Natural User Interface (NUI). The concept of NUI is presented in the form of a runnable demonstrator: a computer vision-based interaction technique for a planning tool for construction and design task