Designing a VR Arena: Integrating Virtual Environments and Physical Spaces for Social Sensorial Data-Driven Experiences

Abstract

Data-driven use scenarios for virtual and augmented reality are increasingly social, multiplayer and integrated in real world environments, yet these remain limited player experiences in that each player wears a device that enables their immersion and removes them in some sense from the broader physical space and social interactions in which it is occurring. Our work explores one possibility for overcoming these limitations by integrating the virtual environment with the physical space it is occupying through the use of a VR Arena design. We explore the design and development of blended virtual– physical spaces for local multiplayer experiences in which players collaboratively interact with a virtual world created from digital data, and simultaneously perform that data as a soundscape for attendees in a physical space.