Wordster: collaborative versus competitive gaming using interactive public displays and mobile phones

Abstract

We report the design, implementation and evaluation of Wordster, a word finding game played with public displays and mobile phones. The study shows how collaborative gaming in the single player mode enhances social interaction via co-location and spectator view. The usability and playability of the mobile multiplayer mode targeted for competitive gaming between players and realized by coupling a public display and a personal mobile phone into a distributed interface were found good in a controlled user evaluation. However, the adoption of the mobile multiplayer mode in an uncontrolled evaluation "in the wild" was poor, challenging the findings of the controlled user evaluation.