Evaluating Performance Benefits of Head Tracking in Modern Video Games Arun Kulshreshth Joseph J. LaViola Jr. Department of EECS Department of EECS University of Central Florida University of Central Florida 4000 Central Florida Blvd 4000 Central Florida Blvd Orlando, FL 32816, USA Orlando, FL 32816, USA
[email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT PlayStation Move, TrackIR 5) that support 3D spatial in- teraction have been implemented and made available to con- We present a study that investigates user performance ben- sumers. Head tracking is one example of an interaction tech- efits of using head tracking in modern video games. We nique, commonly used in the virtual and augmented reality explored four di↵erent carefully chosen commercial games communities [2, 7, 9], that has potential to be a useful ap- with tasks which can potentially benefit from head tracking. proach for controlling certain gaming tasks. Recent work on For each game, quantitative and qualitative measures were head tracking and video games has shown some potential taken to determine if users performed better and learned for this type of gaming interface. For example, Sko et al. faster in the experimental group (with head tracking) than [10] proposed a taxonomy of head gestures for first person in the control group (without head tracking). A game ex- shooter (FPS) games and showed that some of their tech- pertise pre-questionnaire was used to classify participants niques (peering, zooming, iron-sighting and spinning) are into casual and expert categories to analyze a possible im- useful in games. In addition, previous studies [13, 14] have pact on performance di↵erences.