Evaluating the Effectiveness of HUDs and Diegetic Ammo Displays in First-person Shooter Games

Abstract—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 participant