ABSTRACT

With so much time and money being spent (by choice) on digital games, researchers have questioned what it is about games that make them so motivating to play (Ryan et al., 2006) and how we can translate these motivating features into nongame environments-a process known as gamication (Deterding, 2011). Serious games-games that leverage this ability to motivate behavior and retain attention in serious contexts-have been applied to, for example, encourage behavior change, improve the e- cacy of therapy, and foster activities that lead to learning. e desire of

6.3.3.2 EEG Analysis Techniques 210 6.3.4 Considerations for Analysis and Inference 213

6.3.4.1 Analyzing Biometric Data 213 6.3.4.2 Issues with Inference 214

6.3.5 Summary of Using Biometrics for Game Evaluation 216 6.4 Conclusions 216 Acknowledgments 217 References 217

researchers and developers to innovate new forms of play, to understand how people engage with playful technologies, and to leverage the motivational pull of games in serious contexts has created an environment with the need for new forms of interaction. Understanding how people interact with technology is a challenging task-the desire of researchers to access the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors of people while they engage with technology has spawned innovation in evaluation methods in the eld of human-computer interaction. Biometrics provides a means to assess thoughts and feelings in games, but in addition, biometrics contributes to positive player experiences by creating new forms of play that leverage real-time physiological signals as input. Nacke (2011) distinguishes between these two contributions of biometrics to games research-that is, (1) biometrics for innovating game interaction and (2) biometrics for evaluation (understanding players and their experiences). Players experience a dynamic range of emotions including joy, excitement, and even fear. ese emotions can be used as input into digital games, and also used in iterative evaluation to improve game design (Nacke, 2013, 2015).