Ouch! How Embodied Damage Indicators in First-Person Shooting Games Impact Gaming Experience

Abstract. In this paper we present results from an exploratory study on firstperson shooting game damage indicators, comparing a red flash, a paper doll, and an x-ray mechanism, observing impact on gaming experience. Introduction and Related Work In first-person shooting games players interact with virtual worlds through multiple modalities (first-person graphics, spatial sound, movement) from the perspective of a virtual character, with the aim of enabling the player to experience the game as the character. While creating a first-person gaming experience it is not entirely feasible to cause pain to a player when the character receives an injury, and so games attempt to replicate aspects of getting an injury without actually causing pain. In this paper we explore how damage indication methods impact players emotional and cognitive experience of gameplay, rather than other metrics such as task efficiency (e.g., best score) -an approach termed "affective ludology" Evaluation of a person's affective state, and correlating it with measures of immersion and enjoyment, are still active research problems with various facets ranging from qualitative analysis of written questionnaires and interview