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Utilizing Displayless Space in Collocated Games

Digital games have often been viewed as anti-social. However, this view has been recently changing as social aspects of games are gaining more emphasis. We explore the usage of physical space to enable socially richer game experiences. In particular, we utilize the spatial relationship between portable gaming devices to show multiple views into a shared game world. Similar multi-display systems have been studied in desktop PC environments to address the usability problems caused by gaps and bezels between the displays. In this paper, we demonstrate that this source of problems in utility applications can be a design opportunity in games. We implemented and evaluated two games that are played by two players using touch-screen controlled portable devices on a table. Results of our qualitative study show that the displayless space between the devices can be used to increase challenge, create positive surprises, stimulate imagination, and provoke social interaction in games. We also identified some design pitfalls that may break the illusion of a coherent space.