| 1. |
- Girouard, Audrey, et al.
(författare)
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Brain, Body and Bytes : Psychophysiological User Interaction
- 2010
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The human brain and body are prolific signal generators. Recent technologies and computing techniques allow us to measure, process and interpret these signals. We can now infer such things as cognitive and emotional states to create adaptive interactive systems and to gain an understanding of user experience. This workshop brings together researchers from the formerly separated communities of physiological computing (PC), and brain-computer interfaces (BCI) to discuss psychophysiological computing. We set out to identify key research challenges, potential global synergies, and emerging technological contributions.
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| 2. |
- Grimshaw, Mark, et al.
(författare)
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Sound and Immersion in the First-Person Shooter : Mixed Measurement of the Player's Sonic Experience
- 2008
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Player immersion is the holy grail of computer game designers particularly in environments such as those found in first-person shooters. However, little is understood about the processes of immersion and much is assumed. This is certainly the case with sound and its immersive potential. Some theoretical work explores this sonic relationship but little experimental data exist to either confirm or invalidate existing theories and assumptions. This paper summarizes and reports on the results of a preliminary psychophysiological experiment to measure human arousal and valence in the context of sound and immersion in first-person shooter computer games. It is conducted in the context of a larger set of psychophysiological investigations assessing the nature of the player experience and is the first in a series of systematic experiments investigating the player's relationship to sound in the genre. In addition to answering questionnaires, participants were required to play a bespoke Half-Life 2 level whilst being measured with electroencephalography, electrocardiography, electromyography, galvanic skin response and eye tracking equipment. We hypothesize that subjective responses correlated with objective measurements provide a more accurate assessment of the player's physical arousal and emotional valence and that changes in these factors may be mapped to subjective states of immersion in first-person shooter computer games.
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| 3. |
- Lindley, Craig, et al.
(författare)
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Dissecting Play – Investigating the Cognitive and Emotional Motivations and Affects of Computer Gameplay
- 2008
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- All games are cognitive learning environments. A cognitive approach to understanding games and gameplay emphasises the analysis and understanding of these learning functions and how game design features facilitate them. The experience of gameplay is one of interacting with a game design in the performance of cognitive tasks, with a variety of emotions arising from or associated with different elements of motivation, task performance and completion. Psychophysiological techniques provide empirical methods for investigating play that provide a foundation for developing plausible models of what those cognitive decision processes are, how they relate to design features and how emotions integrated with task performance lead to rewards of play, creating an experience of 'fun'.
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| 4. |
- Nacke, Lennart
(författare)
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Affective Ludology : Scientific Measurement of User Experience in Interactive Entertainment
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Digital games provide the most engaging interactive experiences. Researching gameplay experience is done mainly in the science and technology (e.g., human-computer interaction, physiological and entertainment computing) and social science (e.g., media psychology, psychophysiology, and communication sciences) research communities. This thesis is located at the intersection of these research areas, bringing together emerging methodological and scientific approaches from these multi-faceted communities for an affective ludology; a novel take on game analysis and design with focus on the player. The thesis contributes to game research with three important results: (1) the establishment of an objective/subjective correlation methodology founded on psychophysiological methods, (2) the creation of a formal theoretical framework in which to conduct user experience (UX) research related to games, and (3) the combination of results regarding cognitive and emotional factors for describing, defining, and classifying the interactive relationship between players and games. Two approaches for measuring gameplay experience are used in this thesis. First, objective assessment of physiological user responses together with automated event-logging techniques, so called game metrics, allows collecting essential player- and game-related variables for a comprehensive understanding of their interaction. Second, using psychometric questionnaires allows a reliable assessment of players' subjective emotion and cognition during gameplay. The benefit of psychophysiological methods is that they are non-intrusive, covert, reliable, and objective. To fully understand psychophysiological results, a correlation between subjective gameplay experience ratings and psychophysiological responses is necessary and has been done in this thesis and prior work it builds on. This thesis explores objective and subjective assessment of gameplay experience in several experiments. The experiments focus on (1) level design implications from psychophysiological and questionnaire measurements, (2) the impact of form and age on subjective gameplay experience, (3) the impact of game audio and sound on objective and subjective player responses, and (4) the impact of game interaction design on and the relationship between experience and electroencephalographic measures. In addition, the thesis includes a theoretical framework for UX research in games, which classifies gameplay experience along the dimensions of abstraction and time. One remaining conceptual and empirical challenge for this framework is the huge variety of vaguely defined experiential phenomena, such as immersion, flow, presence, and engagement. However, the results from the experimental studies show that by establishing correlations between psychophysiological responses and questionnaire data, we are approaching a better, scientifically grounded, understanding of gameplay experience. Many possibilities open from here. More detailed analyses of cognition will help us understand to what extend gameplay experience depends on emotional or cognitive processing. In addition, the inclusion of more complex and detailed gameplay metrics data together with psychophysiological metrics will enable a comprehensive analysis of player behavior, attention, and motivation. Finally, the integration of new measurement technologies in interactive entertainment applications will not only allow a detailed assessment of gameplay, but also improve physical and mental interaction with future games.
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| 5. |
- Nacke, Lennart, et al.
(författare)
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Affective Ludology, Flow and Immersion in a First- Person Shooter : Measurement of Player Experience
- 2009
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Ingår i: Loading..., The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association. - : The Canadian Game Studies Association. - 1923-2691. ; 3:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gameplay research about experiential phenomena is a challenging undertaking, given the variety of experiences that gamers encounter when playing and which currently do not have a formal taxonomy, such as flow, immersion, boredom, and fun. These informal terms require a scientific explanation. Ludologists also acknowledge the need to understand cognition, emotion, and goal- oriented behavior of players from a psychological perspective by establishing rigorous methodologies. This paper builds upon and extends prior work in an area for which we would like to coin the term "affective ludology." The area is concerned with the affective measurement of player-game interaction. The experimental study reported here investigated different traits of gameplay experience using subjective (i.e., questionnaires) and objective (i.e., psychophysiological) measures. Participants played three Half-Life 2 game level design modifications while measures such as electromyography (EMG), electrodermal activity (EDA) were taken and questionnaire responses were collected. A level designed for combat-oriented flow experience demonstrated significant high-arousal positive affect emotions. This method shows that emotional patterns emerge from different level designs, which has great potential for providing real-time emotional profiles of gameplay that may be generated together with self- reported subjective player experience descriptions.
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| 6. |
- Nacke, Lennart, et al.
(författare)
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Boredom, Immersion, Flow : A pilot study investigating player experience
- 2008
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Designing and evaluating gameplay experience comes to life after measures for player experience have been found. This paper describes a pilot study measuring game experience with a set of game stimuli especially designed for different player experiences. Gameplay experience is measured using self-report questionnaires after each play session. Results of the questionnaires are then separately compared to design intentions and player evaluations. Our experiment shows that gameplay experience can be assessed with a high reliability for certain gameplay features.
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| 7. |
- Nacke, Lennart, et al.
(författare)
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Brain Training for Silver Gamers : Effects of Age and Game Form on Effectiveness, Efficiency, Self-Assessment, and Gameplay Experience
- 2009
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Ingår i: Cyberpsychology & Behavior. - : Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.. - 1094-9313 .- 1557-8364. ; 12:5, s. 493-499
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In recent years, an aging demographic majority in the Western world has come to the attention of the game industry. The recently released “brain-training” games target this population, and research investigating gameplay experience of the elderly using this game form is lacking. This study employs a 2×2 mixed factorial design (age group: young and old×game form: paper and Nintendo DS) to investigate effects of age and game form on usability, self-assessment, and gameplay experience in a supervised field study. Effectiveness was evaluated in task completion time, efficiency as error rate, together with self-assessment measures (arousal, pleasure, dominance) and game experience (challenge, flow, competence, tension, positive and negative affect). Results indicate players, regardless of age, are more effective and efficient using pen-and-paper than using a Nintendo DS console. However, the game is more arousing and induces a heightened sense of flow in digital form for gamers of all ages. Logic problem– solving challenges within digital games may be associated with positive feelings for the elderly but with negative feelings for the young. Thus, digital logic-training games may provide positive gameplay experience for an aging Western civilization.
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| 8. |
- Nacke, Lennart, et al.
(författare)
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Electroencephalographic Assessment of Player Experience : A Pilot Study in Affective Ludology
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal Simulation & Gaming. - : SAGE. - 1046-8781 .- 1552-826X. ; 42:5, s. 632-655
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Psychophysiological methods, such as electroencephalography (EEG), provide non-intrusive and reliable measurements of affective player experience. For studying player experience, we present a pilot study and its initial results to solidify a research approach we call affective ludology, a research area concerned with the affective measurement of player-game interaction. The study investigates the impact of level design on brainwave activity measured with EEG and player experience measured with questionnaires; with the goal of understanding cognition, emotion, and player behavior from a psychological perspective. For this purpose, a methodology for assessing gameplay experience with subjective and objective measures was further developed that extends prior work in affective measurements of digital games. We report the result of this pilot study, the impact of three different level design conditions (boredom, immersion, and flow) on EEG and subjective indicators of gameplay experience. Results from the subjective gameplay experience questionnaire support the validity of our level design conditions. Patterns of EEG spectral power show that the immersion level design elicits more activity in the theta band, which may support a relationship between virtual spatial navigation or exploration and theta activity. Our research shows that facets of gameplay experience can be assessed with measures of affective ludology, such as EEG, in which cognitive patterns emerge from different level designs.
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| 9. |
- Nacke, Lennart, et al.
(författare)
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Flow and Immersion in First-Person Shooters : Measuring the player’s gameplay experience
- 2008
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Researching experiential phenomena is a challenging undertaking, given the sheer variety of experiences that are described by gamers and missing a formal taxonomy: flow, immersion, boredom, excitement, challenge, and fun. These informal terms require scientific explanation, which amounts to providing measurable criteria for different experiential states. This paper reports the results of an experimental psychophysiological study investigating different traits of gameplay experience using subjective and objective measures. Participants played three Half-Life 2 game modifications while being measured with electroencephalography, electrocardiography, electromyography, galvanic skin response and eye tracking equipment. In addition, questionnaire responses were collected after each play session. A level designed for combat-oriented flow experience demonstrated measurable high-arousal positive affect emotions. The positive correlation between subjective and objective indicators of gameplay experience shows the great potential of the method presented here for providing real-time emotional profiles of gameplay that may be correlated with self-reported subjective descriptions.
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| 10. |
- Nacke, Lennart
(författare)
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Focus on your players : Psychophysiological player experience logging as a powerful tool for gameplay analysis
- 2008
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With a recently gained emphasis on new input devices and interaction techniques, like gestural movement, eye tracking and biofeedback, designers of tomorrow will have to think far beyond what we call games in a classical sense today. Gameplay becomes a more immersive experience, a space of fun decoupled from the experience of using a computer. The benefit of using these new devices is that they also enable a more precise and empirical measurement of gameplay. Thus, from an academic side it becomes more interesting to research the effect a game has on players than to focus on the game as an entity itself. By empirically understanding how players experience games, we can then reflect and use this gained knowledge to enhance specific design aspects of games.
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