How does immersion work in augmented reality games? A user-centric view of immersion and engagement

ABSTRACT

In the wake of the remarkable popularity of augmented reality (AR) games, immersion has emerged as a key trend, raising questions about the role immersion plays in games and the manner in which humans actually experience it. Focusing on immersion in AR games, this study investigates the game-playing experience to determine whether users have favorable responses and how players’ experiences of immersion influence their satisfaction with and attitude toward AR games. It proposes an AR-game-experience model based on integrating cognitive and motivational constructs as the primary influencing cues. The results validate that the proposed model explains and predicts user experience of AR games highly adequately. The model exhibits adequate measurement properties and highlights engagement factors as distinct constructs. The results indicate the users’ perspective of immersion, implying a new conceptualization of immersion as well as the need for user-based engagement measures.

KEYWORDS:

• Augmented reality games
• immersion
• user experience
• playing experience
• engagement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dong-Hee Shin is a Full Professor of School of Media and Communication at Chung-Ang University and a Distinguished Endowed Professor of Ministry of Education in Korea. Prior to Chung-Ang University, he was a former founding Chair of the Department Interaction Science at Sungkyunkwan University. As a Director of Interaction Science Research Center, he also served as a Principal Investigator of BK21 Plus, a national research project hosted by the Ministry of Education in Korea. Dr. Shin received his Master's and Ph.D. degree from Syracuse University. He has served as an editorial board at 12 journals of internationally recognized journals including Telecommunications Policy, Computers in Human Behaviors, Journal of ComputerMediated Communications, Information Processing and Management, Internet Research, Info, Journal of Information Policy, and Journalism Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Mobile Communications. He has served Associate Editor for Computers in Human Behaviors and Information Technology and People.