UC San Diego

Affective state visualizations can influence social interaction in digital games, and analyzing such visualizations could help game designers to identify avenues for enhancement, leading to more engaging gameplay. Facial expressions can be used to detect affective state in real-time which can then be projected to the player in-game. Previous work has shown that representations of facial expressions in the form of emojis in a two-player car racing game improves player experience. However, its use in multiplayer first-person shooters, where the full attention of the player is needed at every moment of gameplay, remains largely unexplored. Improving on past work, we explore emoji as an affect representation in multiplayer FPS games. In addition, we introduce a novel diegetic representation of affect, and compare it with the emoji. Our user study with 18 participants shows that while emojis can be distracting, they are also enjoyable and easy to interpret. Our diegetic representation shows promise as a strategic game mechanic, but a more in-depth analysis is necessary to fully understand its potential. We further analyze their impact on social presence and find significant improvements in empathy and behavioral engagement for emojis. Our findings highlight the potential use of physiological representations as a non-verbal form of communication in virtual spaces, such as multiplayer games.