Paper Reading 18: Biofeedback Game Design: Using Direct and Indirect Physiological Control to Enhance Game Interaction

Reference Information
Biofeedback Game Design: Using Direct and Indirect Physiological Control to Enhance Game Interaction
Lennart E. Nacke, Michael Kalyn, Calvin Lough, Regan L. Mandryk
Presented at CHI 2011, May 7-12, 2011, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
 

Author Bios

• Lennart Erik Nacke is an assistant professor for HCI and Game Science at the Faculty of Business and Information Technology at University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
• Michael Kalyn is currently a grad student in Computer engineering at the University of Saskatchewan.
• Calvin Lough is a student from the University of Saskatchewan
• Regan Lee Mandryk is currently an Assistant Professor in the Interaction Lab in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan.   

Summary
 
Hypothesis

The authors propose a system of direct and indirect physiological sensor input to augment game control.

Methods

To evaluate the plausibility of direct and indirect physiological control, 10 participants were asked to play through 3 test conditions. 1 of the conditions was a control and therefore had no physiological control. The other 2 conditions added 2 indirect and 2 direct methods of physiological control to the game in addition to the GAZE system and standard XBOX controller that were present in both. The participants played through the 3 conditions in random order, for about 10 minutes on each condition, and then filled out a survey concerning their experience with the physiological control.

Results
While users preferred the greater involvement in the game, with 90% preferring some sort of psychological control, they showed some hesitation towards the added complexity and the new existence of a learning curve. However all admitted that the new direct physiological sensors added a huge amount of novelty to the games and after the initial learning phase, it felt quite natural. Gaze tracking was the most preferred added interaction.
Contents
This article delves into an area of gaming that has plenty of room to be explored.  Namely, physiological interaction.  The topics presented in this research focus on learning how people react to different types of sensors and which kinds are preferable in given situations.  It also explored the gap between traditional controls and learning to adapt to the new sensing controls.  The overall feedback was positive, but there were some areas that might have been a little un-intuitive or difficult to pick up on.

 

Discussion  I really liked this idea as a potential for more interactive gaming experiences.