Multiplayer gaming with mobile phones: enhancing user experience with a public screen

We have studied the use of a public screen integrated to a mobile multiplayer game in order to create a new kind of user experience. In the user evaluations, the game FirstStrike was tested by eight user groups, each containing four players. The evaluations showed that communication between the players increased with the usage of the public display and alliances were built. It was also found that the possibility to identify the players by adding the players' photographs into the shared display makes the game more personal. We believe that this new way of communication is a result of using the shared public screen in a mobile multiplayer game.