SimVis Games

Elements of most of the research in the department can be applied to the area of computer games [1]. The main focus of the games theme is a research project new to the department and is concerned primarily with answering the following question:

Is it possible to determine the psychological and physiological effects of playing computer and console video games (C&CVG) in a valid and reproducible manner suitable for developing sensitive and specific tests of potential commercial success of the test game?

To help answer this question expertise has been drawn from different subject areas in the University. These include Psychologists, Sports Psychologists, Medics and Physicists.

The Video Games Research Team here at The University of Hull has completed a pilot study measuring the impact of playing a networked game of Unreal Tournament on 20 volunteers. The study design and methods have been worked out and the online/networked delivery of the measures and data collection have been produced and tested. The results of measures of change in mood, cognitive function and heart rate were compared against measures of personality using interactive visualization techniques such as nested parallel coordinates, 3D statistical surface analysis and self organizing feature map clustering.

[1] Variations on a Fuzzy Logic Gesture Recognition Algorithm, ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology ACE 2004, National University of Singapore, Singapore, June 2004

[2] Profiling the physiological and psychological effects of playing a networked first person shooter. Thornton S, Purdy J H, Presented: Game Developers Conference Europe, Sept 2004.

[3] Profiling the physiological and psychological effects of playing a computer game (Quantitative pilot study), Thornton S, Purdy JH, 5th International Game-On Conference on Computer games, AI, Design and Education, pp 317-324, Reading UK, Nov 8-10, 2004.

[4] Related BBC article: Body and brain of gamers probed.., http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3618320.stm

Body and brain of gamers probed
By Jo Twist
BBC News Online science and technology staff

Contact Dr Jon Purdy for more infomation (J.H.Purdy @hull.ac.uk)