Fighting Gamer Rage With an Arduino Based Biometrics Headset

An anonymous reader writes "Gamer rage is a common phenomenon among people who play online, a product of the intense frustration created by stressful in-game situations and an inability to cope. It can have significant impact on the gamer's ability to play well, and to get along with others. To combat this rage and train gamers to deal with the stress, visual designer Samuel Matson of Seattle has created the Immersion project, integrating a pulse sensor tied to a Tiny Arduino with Bluetooth into a headset to monitor the gamer's heart rate. The heart rate data is sent in real time to the gaming PC, where it is displayed in the game. Matson even created a simple FPS using the Unity game engine that varies the AI and gaming difficulty based on the user's heart rate. Using this system, the gamer is able to train themselves to recognize the stress and learn to control it, in order to make them a much more agreeable and competitive player."

Comments

Why you play?

[Anonymous Coward]

If I lose this game what do I lose in life? Nothing. If I win this game what do I win in life? Nothing. Smile when you win, laugh when you lose. It's a game, for entertainment purposes only.

Re:Why you play?

[infolation]

Then how do you explain multiplayer tetris-rage?

That's not 'entertainment purposes only'. Those little blocks are life or death.

Re:Why you play?

[citizenr]

Try EVE Online, when you lose in game you lose months of grind or thousands of dollars. Every important battle induces physiological fight or flight reaction.

Re:Why you play?

[Austerity Empowers]

I doubt you'd play at all with so little emotional investment.

Re:Why you play?

[Lamps]

A person's response to the gaming experience is not determined on a rational basis.

If a game is stimulating enough, a person will experience physiological responses that some describe as reactions to stressors - this includes a central and peripheral nervous response mediated by catecholamines (dopamine, adrenaline/norepinephrine, noradrenaline/norepinephrine) (sympathetic nervous system-adrenal-medullary arousal), and possibly pituitary-adrenal-cortical arousal, which results in a release of ACTH, and thus, cortisol. Such responses may be associated with a number of physiological effects, and influence the body's use of energy. Maladaptive psychological states, such as that of increased hostility, are sometimes associated with these changes. Here is an article which offers a pretty good introduction on the topic.

If you're prone to maladaptive responses to stressful situations, to some extent, this can be mitigated by training (hence, the biofeedback article). However, I'd be willing to guess that a lot of hardcore gamers (not all) who suffer the most severe stress effects may notice some hitches with the idea of trying to manage their stress response while gaming. Some will not be able to mitigate their stress response to a meaningful extent. Some will be able to mitigate their stress response, but it will hit eventually as they keep gaming (possibly manifesting itself pretty quickly and powerfully). Some will find that mitigating their stress response compromises or interferes with their gaming experience or their level of play, and will drop the idea altogether. Still, it's a worthwhile effort, because it has the potential to help some people.

Gamer rage?

[Jmc23]

Rage is side-effect of having no control of your emotions. Perhaps this would be more useful outside of gaming? I'm not to afraid of some 97 pound weakling stuck in their parent's basement thousands of miles away who can barely lift their controller. Little more concerned about the 300lb redneck stuck in traffic with his truck pushing my bumper.

Now let other players see it

[bbartlog]

That would really add to the game! Especially for griefers ... 'whoah did you see that, his pulse hit 140 just before he ragequit! Psych! Now let's find someone else to spawn camp...' In all seriousness I think you could have an elevated pulse, blood pressure or whatever and still be enjoying the game. Trying to maintain perfect calm sort of defeats the purpose.

Re:maybe they should visit the real world

[Ardyvee]

You'd be surprised how many have "gamer rage" in sports. It isn't just for video games. It is simply them not managing their emotions (or deciding to let them run free).

Just what those in gamer rage need...

[Nova Express]

...another small electronic device to hurl across the room and smash into little bits!