Augmented Reality Games and Presence: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The sense of presence in augmented reality (AR) has been studied by multiple researchers through diverse applications and strategies. In addition to the valuable information provided to the scientific community, new questions keep being raised. These approaches vary from following the standards from virtual reality to ascertaining the presence of users’ experiences and new proposals for evaluating presence that specifically target AR environments. It is undeniable that the idea of evaluating presence across AR may be overwhelming due to the different scenarios that may be possible, whether this regards technological devices—from immersive AR headsets to the small screens of smartphones—or the amount of virtual information that is being added to the real scenario. Taking into account the recent literature that has addressed the sense of presence in AR as a true challenge given the diversity of ways that AR can be experienced, this study proposes a specific scope to address presence and other related forms of dimensions such as immersion, engagement, embodiment, or telepresence, when AR is used in games. This systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA methodology, carefully analysing all studies that reported visual games that include AR activities and somehow included presence data—or related dimensions that may be referred to as immersion-related feelings, analysis or results. This study clarifies what dimensions of presence are being considered and evaluated in AR games, how presence-related variables have been evaluated, and what the major research findings are. For a better understanding of these approaches, this study takes note of what devices are being used for the AR experience when immersion-related feelings are one of the behaviours that are considered in their evaluations, and discusses to what extent these feelings in AR games affect the player’s other behaviours.