Dynamic Game Balancing by Recognizing Affect

TLDR: An overview of two groups of potentially useful sources for dynamic game balancing: Overt behavior and physiological responses is provided and EMO-Pacman, a design case that aims to implement these new balancing techniques into the game Pac-Man is presented.

Abstract: Dynamic game balancing concerns changing parameters in a game to avoid undesired player emotions, such as boredom and frustration This is eg done by adjusting the game's difficulty level to the (increasing) skill level of the player during the game Currently, most balancing techniques are based on in-game performance, such as the player's position in a race This is, however, insufficient since different types of players exist, with different goals, preferences and emotional responses Therefore, to deal effectively with a player's emotions, a game needs to look beyond the player's performance This paper provides an overview of two groups of potentially useful sources for dynamic game balancing: Overt behavior and physiological responses In addition, we present EMO-Pacman, a design case that aims to implement these new balancing techniques into the game Pac-Man