Affective Videogames: The Problem of Wearability and Comfort

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to report the interaction design process followed by an interdisciplinary team to develop an innovative ICT wearable device for affective video gaming. The process follows Norman and Draper's User Centered Design principles [1] including: functional development, laboratory test of the technology with human subjects, product design, prototype realization and experimentation with final users. The functioning of the device is based on the detection of physiological parameters, e.g., Blood Volume Pulse (BVP), Temperature (T), and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), through electrodes placed on the forehead of the player. These signals are aimed at detecting the emotional state of the player by means of computational intelligence algorithms. This information can be used to modify the behavior of a videogame in order to maintain the player in the desired state of subjective enjoyment. Our goal was to develop a comfortable and easy to use device to avoid disturbs on the emotional state of the player.

Technological Advancements in Affective Gaming: A Historical Survey

“…It is among the most basic and low cost physiological modalities available, and is widely used in physiological emotion recognition, including video games [1], [17]. EDA is commonly read between two fingers on either hand, although is not limited to this area of the body [7]. EDA bodes well for adaptation into video-game controllers.…”

“…2 (#10) Body temperature is affected by emotion, specifically joy, anger and sadness [57], [58], and has been used for emotion recognition in video games [7], [90]. Temperature sensors fall into two general types: contact and non-contact.…”

“…Hardware used in AG research has been borrowed from psychological research or commercial relaxation systems, such as the BioPac 6 , IOM 7 , etc. Commercial hardware for physiological acquisition is considered expensive and awkward to use [42].…”

“…In 1997, Picard and Healey [66] introduced an affective wearable system that stored physiological data from Respiration, EDA, Blood Volume Pulse (BVP) and Electromyography (EMG), for later analysis. Picard's work would later become a beacon for affective computing research [7], [32], [45]. Sensors can be embedded into clothing, glasses, gloves, shoes, hats, helmets, jewellery, etc., making this an attractive avenue for AG.…”

“…It needs to move from expensive laboratory equipment to reliable and affordable consumer devices [13], [22], [68]. Affective sensors can be incorporated into already adopted video game controllers [2], [7], [13], [50]. Valve 8 and Sony 9 have both implied that EDA and HR could soon be incorporated into standard controllers.…”