Abstract
Brain-computer interface (BCI) games can satisfy our need for competence by providing us with challenges that we should enjoy tackling. However, many BCI games that claim to provide enjoyable challenges fail to do so. Some common fallacies and pitfalls about BCI games play a role in this failure and in this paper we report on a study that we carried out to empirically investigate them. More specifically, we explored (1) active and passive interaction with BCI games, (2) BCI gaming as a skill and (3) playability of a BCI game. We conducted an experiment with 42 participants who played a popular computer game called World of Warcraft using a commercial BCI headset called EPOC. We conducted interviews about the participants’ experiences of the game and ran a phenomenological analysis on their responses. The analysis results showed that (1) the players would like to play a BCI game actively if the BCI controls critical game elements, (2) the technical challenges of BCI cannot motivate the players to play a BCI game and (3) the players’ enjoyment of one-time playing of a BCI game does not imply playability of the game.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
Gürkök, H., Nijholt, A.: Brain-computer interfaces for multimodal interaction: A survey and principles. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction 28(5), 292–307 (2012)
Tan, D., Nijholt, A.: Brain-computer interfaces and human-computer interaction. In: Brain-Computer Interfaces, pp. 3–19. Springer, London (2010)
Gürkök, H., Nijholt, A., Poel, M.: Brain-computer interface games: Towards a framework. In: Herrlich, M., Malaka, R., Masuch, M. (eds.) ICEC 2012. LNCS, vol. 7522, pp. 373–380. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)
Nijholt, A., Reuderink, B., Oude Bos, D.: Turning shortcomings into challenges: Brain-computer interfaces for games. Entertainment Computing 1(2), 85–94 (2009)
Tatum, W.O., Dworetzky, B.A., Schomer, D.L.: Artifact and recording concepts in EEG. Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology 28(3), 252–263 (2011)
Mühl, C., Gürkök, H., Plass-Oude Bos, D., Thurlings, M.E., Scherffig, L., Duvinage, M., Elbakyan, A.A., Kang, S., Poel, M., Heylen, D.: Bacteria Hunt: Evaluating multi-paradigm BCI interaction. Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces 4(1), 11–25 (2010)
George, L., Lotte, F., Abad, R., Lecuyer, A.: Using scalp electrical biosignals to control an object by concentration and relaxation tasks: Design and evaluation. In: 2011 Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, pp. 6299–6302. IEEE, Piscataway (2011)
Gürkök, H.: Mind the Sheep! User Experience Evaluation & Brain-Computer Interface Games. PhD thesis, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands (2012)
Liao, L.D., Lin, C.T., McDowell, K., Wickenden, A.E., Gramann, K., Jung, T.P., Ko, L.W., Chang, J.Y.: Biosensor technologies for augmented brain-computer interfaces in the next decades. Proceedings of the IEEE 100, 1553–1566 (2012)
Sokolowski, R.: Introduction to Phenomenology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2000)
Nardi, B., Harris, J.: Strangers and friends: Collaborative play in World of Warcraft. In: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, pp. 149–158. ACM, New York (2006)
Yee, N., Ducheneaut, N., Nelson, L., Likarish, P.: Introverted elves & conscientious gnomes: The expression of personality in World of Warcraft. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 753–762. ACM, New York (2011)
Billieux, J., van der Linden, M., Achab, S., Khazaal, Y., Paraskevopoulos, L., Zullino, D., Thorens, G.: Why do you play World of Warcraft? An in-depth exploration of self-reported motivations to play online and in-game behaviours in the virtual world of Azeroth. Computers in Human Behavior 29(1), 103–109 (2013)
Nijholt, A., Plass-Oude Bos, D., Reuderink, B.: Turning shortcomings into challenges: Brain–computer interfaces for games. Entertainment Computing 1(2), 85–94 (2009)
Scherer, R., Friedrich, E.C.V., Allison, B., Pröll, M., Chung, M., Cheung, W., Rao, R.P.N., Neuper, C.: Non-invasive brain-computer interfaces: Enhanced gaming and robotic control. In: Cabestany, J., Rojas, I., Joya, G. (eds.) IWANN 2011, Part I. LNCS, vol. 6691, pp. 362–369. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)
Deuschl, G., Eisen, A. (eds.): Recommendations for the Practice of Clinical Neurophysiology, 2nd edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam (1999)
Moore, N.C.: The neurotherapy of anxiety disorders. Journal of Adult Development 12, 147–154 (2005)
Quek, M., Höhne, J., Murray-Smith, R., Tangermann, M.: Designing future BCIs: Beyond the bit rate. In: Towards Practical Brain-Computer Interfaces, pp. 173–196. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)
Vaughan, T.M., Sellers, E.W., Wolpaw, J.R.: Clinical evaluation of BCIs. In: Brain-Computer Interfaces: Principles and Practice, pp. 325–336. Oxford University Press, New York (2012)
Van de Laar, B., Gürkök, H., Plass-Oude Bos, D., Poel, M., Nijholt, A.: Experiencing BCI control in a popular computer game. IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games 5(2), 176–184 (2013)
Starks, H., Brown Trinidad, S.: Choose your method: A comparison of phenomenology, discourse analysis, and grounded theory. Qualitative Health Research 17(10), 1372–1380 (2007)
Tesch, R.: Qualitative Research: Analysis Types and Software Tools. RoutledgeFalmer, London (1990)
Malterud, K.: Qualitative research: standards, challenges, and guidelines. Lancet 358(9280), 483–487 (2001)
Gürkök, H., Nijholt, A., Poel, M., Obbink, M.: Evaluating a multi-player brain-computer interface game: Challenge versus co-experience. Entertainment Computing 4(3), 195–203 (2013)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Gürkök, H., van de Laar, B., Bos, D.PO., Poel, M., Nijholt, A. (2014). Players’ Opinions on Control and Playability of a BCI Game. In: Stephanidis, C., Antona, M. (eds) Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Universal Access to Information and Knowledge. UAHCI 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8514. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07440-5_50
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07440-5_50
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-07439-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-07440-5
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)