How can an emotion be defined? An emotion is a conscious psycho-physiological manifestation, which can be defined both as a process and as a state. It can be either pleasant or unpleasant and is useful to regulate the interaction of the individual with the environment.

Compared to films, TV, radio, books, and music, video games are interactive entertainment artifacts and as such allow the user to exert a degree of influence on the virtual world and the situation he or she experiences while playing, which is why the emotions that the game arouses in the player are perceived more realistically and intensely, as Bernard Perron, an expert in effective gaming and emotions at the University of Montreal, tells us.

Tan tells us that video games arouse three types of emotions in users:

Fiction Emotions, which are linked to the game world and what goes on in it, as gamers can confirm there is a difference between walking through the streets of Raccoon City and those of WinterHold.

The Artifacts Emotions are those emotions given by the quality of the artifact then by its level as a product by its fluidity, graphics, details, etc…

Gameplay Emotions are those emotions aroused by our actions and interactions with the game world and its inhabitants.

To conclude what is affective gaming is a term that refers more than anything else to a new generation of video games that takes into account the emotions that are developed by the user and exploits them to change for the better the gaming experience to make it more engaging and immersive, and Vrainers tries to include this research on emotions to create products in Virtual Reality that can also affect the emotions of our users.

Bibliography

Perron, B. (2005), A Cognitive Psychological Approach to Gameplay
Emotions, DiGRA International Conference: Changing Views: Worlds in Play, Vol.3

Tan, E.S. (1996). “Emotion and the Structure of Narrative Film: Film as an Emotion Machine“, Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ.
Emozioni nei videogiochi: cos’è l’affective gaming?, Giulia Gargaglione, IDEGO

Author:

Sebastiano Alvaro

A student of I.T. and Game Programming, I studied at A.I.V. – Accademia Italiana Videogiochi. Passionate about Rap, Videogames, and programming in all its facets.