Measuring Game-Play Performance and Perceived Immersion in a Domed Planetarium Projection Environment

1Advanced Computing Research Centre, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, South Australia 5095 {Phillip Lock. [email protected]} Abstract. Game playing in immersive projection environments such as caves and domes is assumed to offer an enhanced experience but there is little quantitative research that measures this. This paper reports on a study of user performance statistics while playing a computer game projected onto a planetarium dome and compares these with similar measurements taken in a conventional projected flat screen environment. A survey of users’ subjective impressions of immersion was also taken and used to compare these display modes. Analysis of users in each mode revealed differences in user experience and some aspects of performance. It was confirmed that dome projection enhanced the player’s sense of immersion when compared with flat projection. Navigation speed was found to decline in the dome while other performance metrics showed no significant difference between the environments.