Cooking in the dark: a mixed reality empathy experience for the embodiment of blindness

  • Renan Guarese RMIT
  • Franklin Bastidas UFRGS
  • João Becker UFRGS
  • Mariane Giambastiani UFRGS
  • Yhonatan Iquiapaza UFRGS
  • Lennon Macedo UFRGS
  • Luciana Nedel UFRGS
  • Anderson Maciel UFRGS
  • Fabio Zambetta RMIT
  • Ron van Schyndel RMIT

Abstract


In the context of promoting a sense of empathy for the difference in people without disabilities, we propose a gaming experience that allows users to embody having a visual impairment. By occluding the user’s vision and providing spatialized audio and passive haptic feedback, allied with a speech recognition digital assistant, our goal is to offer a multi-sensory experience to enhance the user’s sense of embodiment inside a mixed reality blindness simulation. Inside the game environment, while expecting a guest to arrive, the player is required to cook a meal completely in the dark. Being aided solely by their remaining senses and a digital assistant, players must go through several tasks as to prepare dinner in time, risking to lose a love interest.
Keywords: AR, Digital Empathy, Interactive Games, Embodiment, Spatial audio, Passive Haptics, HCI

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Published
2021-06-21
GUARESE, Renan et al. Cooking in the dark: a mixed reality empathy experience for the embodiment of blindness. In: XR IN GAMES WORKSHOP (XR IN GAMES), 1. , 2021, New York. Anais [...]. Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação, 2021 . DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/xr_in_games.2021.15680.