Affective Videogames: The Problem of Wearability and Comfort

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.