The influence of implicit and explicit biofeedback in first-person shooter games

To understand how implicit and explicit biofeedback work in games, we developed a first-person shooter (FPS) game to experiment with different biofeedback techniques. While this area has seen plenty of discussion, there is little rigorous experimentation addressing how biofeedback can enhance human–computer interaction. In our two-part study, (N=36) subjects first played eight different game stages with two implicit biofeedback conditions, with two simulation-based comparison and repetition rounds, then repeated the two biofeedback stages when given explicit information on the biofeedback. The biofeedback conditions were respiration and skin-conductance (EDA) adaptations. Adaptation targets were four balanced player avatar attributes. We collected data with psychophysiological measures (electromyography, respiration, and EDA), a game experience questionnaire, and game-play measures. According to our experiment, implicit biofeedback does not produce significant effects in player experience in an FPS game. In the explicit biofeedback conditions, players were more immersed and positively affected, and they were able to manipulate the game play with the biosignal interface. We recommend exploring the possibilities of using explicit biofeedback interaction in commercial games. Author Keywords Games, playing, affective computing, biosignals

Affective adaptation design for better gaming experiences

Affective adaptation is a creative way for game designers to add an extra layer of engagement to their productions. When player’s emotions are an explicit factor in mechanics design, endless possibilities for imaginative gameplay emerge. Whilst gaining popularity, existing affective game research mostly runs controlled experiments in restrictive settings and rely on one or more specialist devices for measuring player’s emotional state. These conditions albeit effective, are not necessarily realistic. Moreover, the simplified narrative and intrusive wearables may not be suitable for players. This exploratory study investigates delivering an immersive affective experience in the wild with minimal requirements, in an attempt for the average developer to reach the average player. A puzzle game is created with rich narrative and creative mechanics. It employs both explicit and implicit adaptation and only requires a web camera. Participants played the game on their own machines in various settings. Whilst it was rated feasible, very engaging and enjoyable, it remains questionable whether a fully immersive experience was delivered due to the limited sample size

Engineering Music to Slow Breathing and Invite Relaxed Physiology

We engineered an interactive music system that influences a user's breathing rate to induce a relaxation response. This system generates ambient music containing periodic shifts in loudness that are determined by the user's own breathing patterns. We evaluated the efficacy of this music intervention for participants who were engaged in an attention-demanding task, and thus explicitly not focusing on their breathing or on listening to the music. We measured breathing patterns in addition to multiple peripheral and cortical indicators of physiological arousal while users experienced three different interaction designs: (1) a "Fixed Tempo" amplitude modulation rate at six beats per minute; (2) a "Personalized Tempo" modulation rate fixed at 75\% of each individual's breathing rate baseline, and (3) a "Personalized Envelope" design in which the amplitude modulation matches each individual's breathing pattern in real-time. Our results revealed that each interactive music design slowed down breathing rates, with the "Personalized Tempo" design having the largest effect, one that was more significant than the non-personalized design. The physiological arousal indicators (electrodermal activity, heart rate, and slow cortical potentials measured in EEG) showed concomitant reductions, suggesting that slowing users' breathing rates shifted them towards a more calmed state. These results suggest that interactive music incorporating biometric data may have greater effects on physiology than traditional recorded music.Comment: Accepted at 2019 8th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII

All about that base: Differing player experiences in video game genres and the unique case of MOBA games

Video games provide unique interactive player experiences (PX) often categorised into different genres. Prior research has looked at different game genres, but rarely through a PX lens. Especially, PX in the emerging area of massive online battle arena (MOBA) games is not well understood by researchers in the field. We address this knowledge gap by presenting a PX study of different game genres, which we followed up with a second semi-structured interview study about PX in MOBA games. Among the results of our analyses are that games that are likely played with other players, such as MOBA games, stimulate less immersion and presence for players. Additionally, while challenge and frustration are significantly higher in this genre, players get a sense of satisfaction from teamwork, competition and mastery of complex gameplay interactions. Our study is the first to contribute a comprehensive insight into key motivators of MOBA players and how PX in this genre is different from other genres

How to present game difficulty choices? Exploring the impact on player experience

Matching game difficulty to player ability is a crucial step toward a rewarding player experience, yet making difficulty adjustments that are effective yet unobtrusive can be challenging. This paper examines the impact of automatic and player-initiated difficulty adjustment on player experience through two studies. In the first study, 40 participants played the casual game THYFTHYF either in motion-based or sedentary mode, using menu-based, embedded, or automatic difficulty adjustment. In the second study, we created an adapted version of the commercially available game fl0w to allow us to carry out a more focused study of sedentary casual play. Results from both studies demonstrate that the type of difficulty adjustment has an impact on perceived autonomy, but other player experience measures were not affected as expected. Our findings suggest that most players express a preference for manual difficulty choices, but that overall game experience was not notably impacted by automated difficulty adjustments

Development of Emotional Game Mechanics through the use of Biometric Sensors

Todos os anos, os jogadores exigem mais de novos jogos, surge, portanto, a necessidade de criar uma melhor sensação de imersão nos jogos. Já existem maneiras de conseguir isso, nomeadamente através do uso de controladores virtuais de realidade ou movimento, que imergem o jogador numa experiência visual ou física (pelo uso do movimento), porém isso não cobre os aspectos emocionais do jogador, que podem ser medidos em termos de valência e excitação e, em conjunto, abrangem uma ampla gama de emoções (por exemplo, felicidade, stresse, medo, etc.). Acredita-se que estas emoções podem ser detectadas no jogador e usadas para adaptar o jogo em tempo real, melhorando assim sua experiência geral de jogo. De facto, a análise e o uso de conteúdo emocional em experiências multimédia estão se a tornar cada vez mais populares e várias empresas de videojogos estão a investigar a sua versatilidade (por exemplo, Sony, Valve, etc.). No entanto, o uso dessas ferramentas não está optimizado nem é prático.O objectivo principal desta dissertação é desenvolver um sistema capaz de monitorizar as emoções dos jogadores e explorar diferentes mecanismos de jogo que usem sinais biométricos, para melhorar a experiência de jogo. Mais especificamente, há o objectivo de desenvolver um método de baixo custo para processar sinais biométricos utilizáveis ​​em tempo real e estudar os efeitos das mecânicas implementadas na experiência afectiva do jogador. Além disso, queremos estudar no contexto do jogo afectivo quais são as melhores abordagens em termos de adaptação da jogabilidade.Every year gamers demand more from new games and thus arises the need to better immerse the player in the games. There are already ways to do this, namely through the use of virtual reality or motion controllers, that immerse the player in a visual or physical (by the use of movement) experience respectively, however this doesn't cover the emotional aspects of the player, which can be measured in terms of valence and arousal and together cover a wide range of emotions (eg. happiness, stress, afraid, etc.). It is believed that these emotions can be detected in the player and used to adapt the game he is playing thus improving his overall game experience. In fact, analysis and use of emotional content in multimedia experiences is becoming more and more popular and multiple videogame companies are investigating it's versatility (eg. Sony, Valve, etc.). Nonetheless the use of these tools is neither optimal nor practical.This dissertation's main goal is to develop a system capable of monitoring player emotions and explore different game mechanics that use biometric signal ultimately improving the gaming experience. Specifically there is the aim to develop a low-cost method of processing biometric signals usable in real-time and to study the effects of said mechanics in the affective experience. Furthermore we want to study in the context of affective game what are the best approaches in terms of gameplay adaptation

Physiopad: development of a non-invasive game controller toolkit to study physiological responses for Game User Research

Os jogos afectivos usam as respostas fisiológicas do jogador para criar um ambiente adequado ao estado emocional do utilizador. A investigação destes jogos tem sido explorada nos últimos anos. Estas experiências, contudo, ainda requerem sistemas complexos e difíceis de utilizar. Nesta dissertação, é proposta a construção de um dispositivo capaz de ler dados fisiológicos de forma não invasiva e que seja de fácil utilização. Este aparelho faz a leitura do ritmo cardíaco e dos níveis de excitação do jogador, além disso foi criado um software para interligar com o dispositivo. Utilizando um comando da PlayStation 3 e um BITalino, o dispositivo é capaz de fazer a aquisição do sinal PPG e sinal EDA durante o jogo. O software analisa os sinais do comando, calcula o ritmo cardíaco e mede os níveis de excitação em tempo real. Foi realizada uma experiência utilizando biofeedback positivo e negativo, com o objectivo de testar a integração entre o software e o hardware. Não será no imediato que os dispositivos deste género sejam disponibilizados comercialmente. Os resultados são, no entanto, promissores. O cálculo do ritmo cardíaco em tempo real tem apenas uma diferença de 5 batimentos por minuto em relação ao ritmo cardíaco real do jogador. Apesar de os testes com o EDA serem inconclusivos, pode-se verificar que foi possível construir um sistema para ler os dados fisiológicos sendo mais económico do que os seus pares, sem comprometer a fiabilidade dos dados.Affective games are a genre of games that use the physiological responses from the player to adapt the gameplay to a more enjoyable emotional state and experience. Physiological responses and affective games have been studied vastly over the years. However, the setups used in these interventions are very intrusive and are complex to set up. In this project, it is purposed to build a non-invasive and easy-to-set-up toolkit that records physiological data. This toolkit records the player's heart rate and arousal levels and was decomposed into software and hardware. Using a PS3 game controller replica and a BITalino, a physiological game controller which can record heart rate and arousal during gameplay was built. The software interfaces with the gamepad, processes the physiological signals and sends this information to the game. An experiment with a positive biofeedback condition and negative biofeedback condition was conducted. This experiment showed that even though more work must be done until these type of devices could be commercially available, the results are promising. This toolkit’s heart rate values, when compared with other more traditional acquisition devices, were very similar, being on average only 5 BMP lower than the actual heart rate, proving that is possible to build more affordable non-invasive physiological hardware without compromising the signal's accuracy

Sensores de biofeedback em jogos eletrônicos : um estudo teórico e prático

Trabalho de conclusão de curso (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Curso de Graduação em Engenharia de Controle e Automação, 2016.Game Analytics é uma das novas tendências de investigação na indústria de jogos digitais. Ela consiste em analisar as variáveis obtidas durante uma sessão de jogo, com o objetivo de melhorar o design de jogos e também para colaborar com a pesquisa de análise do comportamento do jogador. Estes dados podem ser adquiridos a partir do próprio jogo, como progresso nas fases, duração da sessão ou o desempenho geral do jogador; ou a partir dos usuários, como frequência cardíaca, atividade cerebral, movimento dos olhos ou qualquer indício de atenção, diversão ou tédio. O processo automático utilizado para capturar estes dados é chamado de Game Telemetry (Telemetria de Jogos). Diversos estudos vem propondo meios diferentes de aplicar técnicas de medição para utilizar sensores específicos, com o objetivo de obter os dados do jogador. Neste trabalho, o objetivo é realizar um levantamento acerca dos usos de sensores de Biofeedback em estudos recentes no contexto de telemetria de jogos, bem como uma avaliação prática do uso destes sensores, quando utilizados para prever o comportamento do jogador em diferentes gêneros de jogos. Mais precisamente, foi conduzido um experimento com três sensores de biofeedback (Eletrocardiografia, Sensor de Resposta Galvânica da Pele, e Eletromiografia) com o intuito de verificar a adequação destes sensores para a identificação de emoções do jogador em função do gênero do jogo.Game Analytics is one of the new research trends in digital games’ industry. It consists of analyzing the variables collected during a game session in order to improve game designing and collaborate with gamer behavior research as well. These data may be acquired from the game itself, such as level progression, session duration and the user’s overall performance; or from the users, like heartbeat, brain activity, gaze movement or any indication of attention, fun or boredom. The automatic process used to capture such data is called game telemetry. Several studies have been proposing different ways to apply measurement techniques and to employ specific sensors to collect user data. In this work, the objective is to perform a survey about the uses of Biofeedback sensors in recent studies in the context of game telemetry, as well as a practical evaluation of the use of these sensors, when used to predict the behavior of the player in different genres of games. More precisely, an experiment with three biofeedback sensors (Electrocardiography, Electrodermal Activity Sensor, and Electromyography) was conducted to verify the suitability of these sensors to identify the player’s emotions according to the genre of the game