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Varying Stressors in a Game with a Purpose Changes Human Stress Levels

2022; Springer Science+Business Media; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-3-031-19679-9_70

1865-0937

Timothy Lee, Andrew Chu, Tzyy‐Ping Jung,

Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control

This study investigated the effect of game stressors, such as time and tasks, on players’ stress levels. We collected objective physiological measurements and subjective stress ratings to measure the relationship between changing stressors and players’ stress during a game-with-a-purpose (GWAP) in an authentic environment. The GWAP is based on a dyadic virtual-reality game titled Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. It has three difficulty levels, each with a different number of tasks and time constraints. Participants played six pairs of difficulty levels, with a one-minute break between the two difficulty levels in each pair. Subjects rated their stress levels before, during, and after gameplay, in addition to having their heart rate variability (HRV) measured with an electrocardiogram. We computed normative stress ratings by subtracting baseline stress scores from ratings during and after gameplay. Subjective and objective data support the notion that the three difficulty levels of the GWAP are sensitive enough to induce changing levels of stress in an individual. The HRV and stress rating data collected in this study found a positive correlation between the intensity of stressors and subjects’ objective and perceived stress levels.