Understanding Emotional Experience in Video Games: A Psychophysiological Investigation

Abstract

Players’ affective states during gameplay are hard to assess and distinguish due to the highly dynamic and uncertain nature of video games. While understanding the player's emotional experience is important for game design and gamified applications, the relationship between player emotion and game experience remains unknown. This project focuses on the identification of players’ dynamic affective states using sensing technology and the assessment of the interconnectedness between player characteristics, emotional experience, and game experience. In particular, this study investigates the effectiveness of using eye-tracking and other physiological signals to recognize players’ emotions triggered by different game events and the impact of individual differences on their emotional experiences. Combining objective physiological sensing technology with the investigation of individual characteristics, the outcomes of this research are expected to help better understand the complex player emotions in games and their link with player experience.