Subjective and behavioral presence measurement and interactivity in the collaborative augmented reality game TimeWarp

Presence measurements are traditionally using a variety of subjective and objective measures. However, constraints often result in subjective measurements using questionnaires as a key method of data collection. In this paper we present a study of 44 participants of a collaborative augmented reality game known as TimeWarp which used both subjective and objective behavioral measures where both video recordings and self-reports about feelings of presence were compared. We further investigated the influence of the collaborative nature of the game and of subjectively perceived interactivity on perceived presence. Our findings indicate that pointing behavior and verbal responses to virtual content within an augmented reality scene are correlated negatively to sense of presence. Our results suggest that certain behavioral measures correlate with subjective feelings of presence and can predict the latter in the augmented reality game. With regard to collaborative game play and interactivity on presence we found no influence for collaborative gameplay, however, the interaction possibilities perceived by the participants predicted their experience of social presence with the virtual characters in the game. Implications for presence research are discussed.