Co-Located vs. Remote Gameplay: The Role of Physical Co-Presence in Multiplayer Room-Scale VR

Our research investigates the role of physical co-presence for the experience of multiplayer cooperation in virtual reality (VR). We developed and compared a shared-room (co-located) and separated-room (remote) version of a cooperative two-player VR game. In an extensive study (N=92) we assessed measures of task awareness and spatial presence, as well as player communication, interaction, and performance. Our results indicate that players sharing the same physical space tend to neglect the cooperative task. Moreover, our results indicate that being physically separated can beneficially impact the perceived cooperative social presence, quality of communication, and performance in contrast to sharing a physical space. The role of physical co-location in room-scale VR and potential confounding effects caused by it, as well as implications for further research, are discussed.