Comparing actual and virtual movement in a play anywhere mobile AR location-based story

Abstract

New storytelling mediums are available to users through the digital technology present in modern mobile phones, presenting opportunities for increased personalisation and self- directed play. Many immersive experiences were unavailable during the COVID pandemic, highlighting a desire and demand for experiences that could be used close to home. Map Story 3 is a new immersive AR story app, designed to be used at a user’s choice of location, bringing it closer in-line with the story, by overlaying interactive virtual content on top of the surroundings. A user study was conducted with two versions of Map Story 3, to investigate the differences between virtual movement in an AR location-based immersive experience, and actual movement involving walking between locations. The walking version scored significantly higher in relation to the majority of the immersion measures collected, sug- gesting the version where the user remained stationary currently offers significant barriers to immersion, when the objects were not displayed against congruous surroundings.