Game Development Reference
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Anxious
Te rror/
Horror
Excited
Chill
Depression
Relaxation
Mopey
Figure 4.1
Valence and arousal diagram. (Figure courtesy of Peter Kalmar.)
their phone, going for a walk, or something else, the important part
is, they are no longer playing your game. These two emotions are
therefore very dangerous for game developers, and are mutually exclu-
sive. Frustration * is what we call a high arousal emotion, and boredom
is a low arousal emotion. Valence and arousal (see Figure  4.1) are
psychological concepts that represent a way to map emotions. Valence
indicates the “positivity” of the emotion. For example, depression is a
low valence emotion, and ecstasy is a high valence emotion. Arousal
measures the level of what you might call “excitement.” Think of it as
the amount of brain activity that is happening. Something that is high
valence, low arousal might be relaxation, whereas something that is
low valence, high arousal might be terror. Frustration and boredom
are both low valence, but are on opposite ends of the arousal spec-
trum, which makes them theoretically mutually exclusive.
When we design experiences for our players, we are dancing between
these two extremes, buffered by valence. Arousal differs from game
* Ruederink, B. et al. (2013). Valence, arousal, and dominance in the EEG during
game play. International Journal of Autonomous and Adaptive Communication Systems ,
6(1).
Van Tilburg, W. A. P. & Igou, E. R. (2012). On boredom: Lack of challenge and
meaning as distinct boredom experiences. Motivation and Emotion , 36(2).
Cai, H. & Lin, Y. (2011). Modeling of operators emotion and task performance
in a virtual driving environment. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies ,
69(9).
 
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