Player-Game Interaction Through Affective Sound - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 275

Figure 2. Results of electrodermal activity (EDA averages in log [µS]) from the Nacke et al. (2010)
study, split up between gender, sound, and music conditions in the experiment (see also Nacke, 2009)

positively to the experience of playing games) to
the interesting and meriting further investigation
(for example, gender differences in sound affect
in the context of FPS games). Being the results
of preliminary experiments, they typically provoke
more questions than they answer and such results
should, for the time being, be viewed in the light
of several limiting factors. For example, the ex-
periments provided audio-visual stimuli (not
solely audio) and the sub-genre of game used - the
FPS game - proposes a hunter-and-the-hunted
scenario which, perhaps, might account for the
gender affect differences noted. Another limitation
that needs to be considered in psychophysiologi-
cal research is the effect of familiarity with a
particular game genre and a psychological mind-
set. Thus, a personality test and demographic
questions regarding playing habits and behaviour

will help circumvent possible priming effects of
familiarity or non-familiarity with games in the
experimental analysis. In our experiments, per-
sonality assessments and demographic question-
naires were handed out prior to each study to
factor out priming elements later in the statistical
analysis. Finally, it is difficult to correlate objec-
tive measurements taken during gameplay with
subjective, post-experiential responses and it may
well be that such psychophysiological measure-
ments are not the most optimal method for as-
sessing the role of sound in digital games.

cONcLUsION

In this chapter, we have given an overview of the
emotional components of gameplay experience