Change in Affective Dynamics and Cognitive State with Time during Multiplayer FPS Games

Abstract: In the last decade, digital gaming has flourished due to the advancement of computing devices, mobiles and AR/VR. These games are immersive, interactive, cooperative and multiplayer. Different games affect gamer’s cognition, emotions and performance differently. The subjective evaluation such as questionnaires, surveys and standard scales to inspect the gaming experience is based on the retrospective recollection of the gaming experience after the task is complete. Sometimes, the responses from the gamers could be erroneous as it is hard to perceive the gaming experience. The alternative to subjective evaluation is objective evaluation where the real-time collection of the gamer’s behaviour is recorded. This is done by acquiring the heart rate, electrodermal signals or facial expressions of the gamers. Such signals change when subjected to visual stimulations from the immersive and interactive gaming environment. This study investigates emotional and cognitive properties using a facial recognition system and Galvanic Skin Resistance (GSR) while playing mobile-based massively multiplayer FPS game. The game, “Call of Duty: Mobile” was played on iPhone 14 for 15 minutes by each participant. 10 young healthy gamers belonging to the age group of 18-30 years were selected for this study. The GSR activity was analysed based on 4 features; the tonic component, the phasic component, the number of Skin Conductance Response (SCR) peaks and the amplitude of peaks detected during the study. The facial expression analysis (FEA) included emotional and facial parameters. The change in the amplitude of GSR signals with time was observed among all participants. The tonic component and the amplitude of the peaks increased with time. The mean value of the tonic signal increased from 1.782 ± 0.946 to 3.739 ± 1.702. The number of GSR peaks during the task was more than 100 for different participants. However, the number of peaks was constant with time. The peak amplitude of the SCR peak ranged from 0.05-0.5 µSiemens among participants when 100 or more GSR peaks. This indicates that the tonic amplitude and amplitude of the SCR peak can be a better indicator of the cognitive load with time than the number of SCR peaks.The FEA indicated that the change in facial expression was observed only after 8-9 minutes of gaming time. The facial expressions were understood in terms of eye closing and eye-widening, brows raising and attention. Based on the expression, it was found that all participants started gaming with positive valence, higher attention and engagement, indicating that relatively higher critical thinking and focus are required for gaming activity at the start. After 10 minutes of game time, valence, engagement and attention levels decreased. A small increment in negative emotions such as fear, contempt and anger were observed. The correlation analysis between the amplitude of GSR peaks and different emotions strongly correlated with valence, joy and sentimentality.

Keywords: Cognition, Facial Expression, skin conductance, wearables

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1006363

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