The risk of isolation in virtual reality (VR) stems from the immersive nature of the technology. VR can transport users to entirely virtual environments, often disconnecting them from the physical world and real-life interactions. Asymmetric multiplayer options have been explored to address this issue and encourage social interaction by requiring players to communicate and collaborate to achieve common objectives. Nevertheless, research on implementing these designs and their effects is limited, mainly due to the novelty of multiplayer VR gaming. This article investigates how different game design approaches affect the player experience during an asymmetric multiplayer VR game. Four versions of a VR experience were created and tested in a study involving 74 participants. Each version differs in terms of the sharing of virtual environments (shared vs separated) and the players' dependency on the experience (mutual vs unidirectional). The results showed that variations in game design influenced aspects of the player experience, such as system usability, pragmatic UX quality, immersion control, and intrinsic motivation. Notably, the player roles and the co-presence in the virtual environment did not simultaneously impact these aspects, suggesting that the degree to which players depend on each other changes the player experience.

翻译：虚拟现实（VR）中的孤立风险源于该技术的沉浸式特性。VR可以将用户完全带入虚拟环境，常常使其与物理世界及现实互动脱节。为应对这一问题并促进社交互动，非对称多人游戏选项已被探索，其要求玩家通过沟通与协作来实现共同目标。然而，关于这些设计的实施及其效果的研究仍然有限，主要由于多人VR游戏的新颖性。本文研究了不同游戏设计方法如何影响非对称多人VR游戏中的玩家体验。研究创建了四个版本的VR体验，并在一项涉及74名参与者的实验中进行了测试。每个版本在虚拟环境的共享方式（共享与分离）以及玩家对体验的依赖关系（相互依赖与单向依赖）上有所不同。结果表明，游戏设计的差异影响了玩家体验的多个方面，包括系统可用性、实用性UX质量、沉浸控制和内在动机。值得注意的是，玩家角色和虚拟环境中的共在感并未同时影响这些方面，这表明玩家之间的相互依赖程度改变了玩家体验。