Biometrics in Video Games explored today at Future of Entertainment 2012

Investors.com reported that the emerging field of game biometrics was showcased today at the Future of Entertainment 2012 conference in London, UK.

Recent technological advances, such as eye tracking and electromyography – which records muscle electrical activity – enable companies like Player Research to track in-game player behavior, leading to better gaming experiences.

Graham McAllister, founder of Player Research spoke at the conference today in a presentation titled “Managing Consumer Engagement”. He talked through some of the approaches involved in measuring consumers’ emotional engagement with content, products and services, using video examples to illustrate the importance of that engagement.

While BiometricUpdate.com was not there to report live from the event, we took the liberty of gaining some insight into the talk from Twitter feedback today:

Twitter user @Macedoines wrote, “Great presentation by @grmcall at #FES2012 on using #biometrics for #UX and #UI design.”

User @multicultured commented “all the senses combine in biometric testing” and asked a deeper question, “What specific factors influence the reactions? Music? Suspense? Graphics? Story?” This user also commented that it was a “great presentation on physiology of enjoyment” and suggested that the advertising industry could also borrow from this technology to test the effectiveness of campaigns prior to launch.

Twitter user @chrishobcroft summed up nicely that biometrics is the only way to get honest user feedback from gamers.

While we hope to expand this story to showcase more of his presentation, this YouTube video briefly demonstrates McAllister getting biometric feedback from a video game player, to gain insight to the user experience.

Article Topics

behavioral biometrics  |  biometrics  |  eye tracking  |  software