Keeping an eye on the game: eye gaze interaction with Massively Multiplayer Online Games and virtual communities for motor impaired users

Online virtual communities are becoming increasingly popular both within the able-bodied and disabled user communities. These games assume the use of keyboard and mouse as standard input devices, which in some cases is not appropriate for users with a disability. This paper explores gaze-based interaction methods and highlights the problems associated with gaze control of online virtual worlds. The paper then presents a novel ‘Snap Clutch’ software tool that addresses these problems and enables gaze control. The tool is tested with an experiment showing that effective gaze control is possible although task times are longer. Errors caused by gaze control are identified and potential methods for reducing these are discussed. Finally, the paper demonstrates that gaze driven locomotion can potentially achieve parity with mouse and keyboard driven locomotion, and shows that gaze is a viable modality for game based locomotion both for able-bodied and disabled users alike.