A Framework for Usability Evaluation of Mobile Mixed Reality Games

Abstract

With the advent of smartphones, i.e. phones that have advanced sensors and data connectivity options, consumers gained access to Mobile Mixed Reality (MMR) technologies. One application of this is in Mobile Mixed Reality Games (MMRGs), games that combine the virtual and real world. Due to limited input and output capacities of smartphones, a high degree of usability is very important. This study focusses on how to evaluate the usability of MMRGs by introducing a framework to help decide which method should be used for which style of MMRG. The suggested methods are used to evaluate games that fit the style they are suggested for and the results thereof are compared to a newly introduced and validated set of heuristics for MMRGs. Although the suggested methods do not outperform the adapted heuristics in a statistically significant way, further validation is still advised as there are some limitations to the current research. Based on qualitative merits of the different methods an improved version of the framework is provided in the conclusion that should be used for any further validation.