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Kessel Run - A Cooperative Multiplayer SSVEP BCI Game

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Intelligent Technologies for Interactive Entertainment (INTETAIN 2017)

Abstract

Digital game research has been rapidly growing with studies dedicated to game experience and adopting new technologies. Alongside, research in Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) is growing in game applications. Besides technical shortcomings, BCI research in gaming can also be lacking due to challenges such as poorly designed games that do not provide a fun experience to its players.

In this paper we present a novel multiplayer Steady-State Visually Evoked Potential (SSVEP) game - Kessel Run - with BCI-focused cooperative mechanics, drawing attention to the impact of game design in the user experience.

Twelve participants played Kessel Run using a 2-electrode cap and rated their experience in a questionnaire. The SSVEP performance was lower than expected, with an average classification accuracy of 55% and maximum of 79% at a 33% chance level. Despite low performances, players still reported a state of Flow, felt behaviorally involved and empathized with each other, finding it enjoyable to play the game together.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Unity 5®, from Unity Technologies - https://unity3d.com.

  2. 2.

    BCI2000®, from Schalk Lab - http://bci2000.org/.

  3. 3.

    Biosemi ActiveTwo - http://www.biosemi.com.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to the Erasmus+ programme for its student mobility funding.

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Correspondence to Mannes Poel .

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© 2018 ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Cruz, I., Moreira, C., Poel, M., Ferreira, H., Nijholt, A. (2018). Kessel Run - A Cooperative Multiplayer SSVEP BCI Game. In: Chisik, Y., Holopainen, J., Khaled, R., Luis Silva, J., Alexandra Silva, P. (eds) Intelligent Technologies for Interactive Entertainment. INTETAIN 2017. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 215. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73062-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73062-2_6

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