Virtual Real Spaces: In-Home Gaming Experiences Bridging Reality and Virtuality
Chris Elvis Leisi, Ulrich Götz · 2024
This contribution describes the development of "Virtual Real Space" (VRS), or a form of mixed-reality space that translates players’ home environments into virtual scenarios, enabling immersive and social gaming experiences. While conventional virtual reality games isolate players from their real surroundings, thus affecting their capacity for social interaction and immersion, VRSs superimpose the physical experiences of players with experiences into virtual spaces: the home becomes the base for in-game narration and virtual interaction. A series of prototypes helped to derive guidelines for the creation of VRSs, combining both real and virtual experiences into highly enveloping game scenarios. The findings of extensive gaming tests show remarkable results: first, that the familiar environment of the home provides a reliable frame for physical movement and interaction, and simultaneously, it becomes a virtually-enhanced environment that motivates players to a deeper, more intensive engagement and devotion to the game.