An Investigation of Visual Attention in FPS Computer Gameplay

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 goaloriented 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 selfreported subjective player experience descriptions.

Gazing at Games: An Introduction to Eye Tracking Control

“…Their study investigated if the eye movement patterns in a game follow top-down or bottom-up processes and if there was a difference in these patterns between game genres. Sennersten and Lindley [2009] performed an investigation of visual attention in close combat tactics in FPS computer games. El-Nasr and Yan used an ISCAN ETL-500 eye tracker and the Xbox console for playing the games.…”

Modeling cognitive load and physiological arousal through pupil diameter and heart rate

“…Physiology integrates continuous and unobtrusive measures of physiological arousal in serious games [30]. Such physiology metrics offer insights into the participant's experience [28], and behavior [16,38]. Among a variety of eye-tracking techniques, pupil diameter is already a familiar metric for the experience and behavior in serious games, due to its ecological validity and ease of use [26].…”

Communication channels and awareness cues in collocated collaborative time-critical gaming

“…Sennersten et al [21] investigated how visual cues directed visual attention and its effect on decision making in FPS gameplay. We extend this work by considering audio cues, which, when combined with visual cues, may provide improved awareness of the gameplay status.…”