CS/IMGD colloquium

Affective Gaming: Making Games More Engaging by Adding Emotion

Eva Hudlicka, PhD,

Principal Scientist & President,

Psychometrix Associates

Blacksburg, VA, US

Thursday, October 1, 2009
11:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.
UPPER PERREAULT HALL

Fuller Labs

Abstract:

Affective gaming has received much attention lately, as the gaming community recognizes the importance of emotion in the development of engaging and effective games. Affect plays a key role in user experience, both in entertainment and in 'serious' games. Current focus in affective gaming is primarily on the sensing and recognition of the players' emotions, and on tailoring the game responses to these emotions. A significant effort is also being devoted to generating 'affective behaviors' in the game characters, and in player avatars, to enhance their realism and believability. Less emphasis is placed on modeling emotions, both their generation and their effects, in the game characters, and in user models representing the players.

In this talk I will discuss how the emerging discipline of affective computing contributes to each of these three elements of affective game design, with emphasis on the importance of affective modeling to support the development of more realistic and believable non-playing characters. The talk will provide information about existing data and theories from the affective sciences, and methods and techniques from affective computing, relevant for affect-focused game design and the development of affective games.

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Eva Hudlicka is a Principal Scientist and President of Psychometrix Associates, in Blacksburg, VA. Her primary research focus is the development of computational models of emotion, aimed at enhancing our understanding of the mechanisms underlying cognition-emotion interaction, and the nature of affective biases in decision-making. She is currently exploring the applications of this research in the development of 'serious games' in healthcare. Her prior research interests include affect-adaptive user interfaces, UI and visualization design, decision-support systems, and knowledge elicitation.

Host:Robert Lindeman

Refreshments will be served.

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Last modified: September 25, 2009