Abstract:

Abstract

There is a large disparity between the rich physical interfaces of co-located arcade games and the

generic input devices seen in most home console systems. In this paper we argue that a digital

table is a conducive form factor for general co-located home gaming as it affords: (a) seating in

collaboratively relevant positions that give all equal opportunity to reach into the surface and

share a common view, (b) rich whole handed gesture input normally only seen when handling

physical objects, (c) the ability to monitor how others use space and access objects on the surface,

and (d) the ability to communicate to each other and interact atop the surface via gestures and

verbal utterances. Our thesis is that multimodal gesture and speech input benefits collaborative

interaction over such a digital table. To investigate this thesis, we designed a multimodal,

multiplayer gaming environment that allows players to interact directly atop a digital table via

speech and rich whole hand gestures. We transform two commercial single player computer games,

representing a strategy and simulation game genre, to work within this setting.