Two Worlds, One Gameplay: A Classification of Visual AR Games

This paper proposes a four-criteria classification for visual augmented reality (AR) games, addressing what its authors identify as an underexplored and inconsistently studied category. Arguing that prior taxonomies, such as those organized by play-area size or by ubiquity and multiplicity, are incomplete, the authors build a framework around device, tracking technology, setting, and orientation, which describes the physical or digital goal of a game. The classification is intended both as a supplement to existing game taxonomies and as a foundation for future research.

The framework was developed through a combination of methods: a literature review of 181 relevant results, a Delphi-based process involving four expert interviews across four rounds, and an analysis of AR game depictions in 35 films. Device categories include handheld, wearable, and spatial systems, while tracking approaches range across marker-based, environmental, GPS-based, thermal, and other techniques. Setting considers whether play is fixed or mobile, indoor or outdoor, and how many players participate. The authors deliberately excluded genre, narration, and context, reasoning that AR-specific genres have not yet matured, and they anticipate that the classification will need revision as both the technology and its game forms evolve.

The authors verified the framework by classifying fictional games and concluded that opportunities for AR practitioners likely outweigh the threats, given how much of the technology's potential remains untapped. They also acknowledge important limitations. The scope is restricted to visual AR, leaving aural, sensory, and habit-based role-play games outside the model. In addition, the dominance of marker-based tracking is identified as a constraint on immersion, mobility, and scalability, suggesting that current practice may be narrower than the medium's possibilities.