LAGH: Towards Asymmetrical Collaborative Bodily Play between 1st and 2nd Person Perspectives

This paper investigated to what extent social interactions and empathy of users could be induced when different control mechanisms were used in an asymmetric collaboration. We conducted a user study to explore the user experience under one decentralized and two centralized control conditions via using the proposed two-player asymmetric collaborative bodily play, LAGH, which supports perspective-taking through the integration with the first- and second-perspectives and shared objects. The two players have complementary views and controls to each other in an immersive environment. The results indicate that participant pairs were encouraged by the asymmetric collaboration interface to share their emotional and physiological perspectives with each other. When their control abilities were balanced, they were more motivated to perform information sharing and interact with each other, thereby enhancing closeness and stimulating empathy. Furthermore, users could improve the collaboration efficiency.