Playing with Friends or Strangers? The Effects of Familiarity between Players in an Asymmetric Multiplayer Virtual Reality Game

Many people play games to socialize. Previous studies have shown that asymmetric virtual reality (VR) games —games that utilize and consider differences of various kinds— can improve users’ social and player experience. However, the impact of existing social factors on users’ experiences is still unknown in asymmetric games. In this paper, we designed and implemented an asymmetric game in which both players are in VR. In the game, players had to exchange asymmetric information to complete tasks, resulting in a strategic interdependence. We studied how familiarity (friends vs. strangers) affects social and player experience, as well as game performance. In our preliminary between-participants study (N=14), we did not find significant differences between the friend and stranger teams in social and player experience, or game performance. We discuss how asymmetries can be used to create social VR games, and how and why familiarity does (not) affect the experience of players.