We present an experiment comparing five ammunition display methods in first-person shooter (FPS) games. These included both diegetic (in-game) and heads-up display (HUD) options. HUD displays included a bar, icons, and a counter. Diegetic displays were displayed in-game beside the player’s weapon. Two diegetic displays were evaluated: a number and bullets. We compared the performance offered by each ammunition display and player preference towards each. Results indicate that the diegetic “number-in-game” display performed best both in terms of reload time and shots taken between running out of ammunition and reloading. Participants fired an average of 35% fewer shots after running out of ammo with the number-in-game display than with the worst performing display, icons-on-HUD. Reload time was also 26% faster with the number-in-game display than with icons-on-HUD. The number-in-game display was preferred by 70% of participants.
Margaree Peacocke, Robert J. Teather, Jacques Carette, and I. Scott MacKenzie. 2015. Evaluating the effectiveness of HUDs and diegetic ammo displays in first-person shooter games. In Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE Games Entertainment Media Conference (GEM 2015). October 14—16, 2015, Toronto, ON, Canada. IEEE, New York, NY, USA, 138-145. https://doi.org/10.1109/GEM.2015.7377211