This paper studies the use of eye tracking in a First-Person Shooter (FPS) game as a mechanism to: (1) control the attention of the player’s avatar according to the attention deployed by the player; and (2) guide the gameplay and game’s procedural content generation, accordingly. This results in a more natural use of eye tracking in comparison to a use in which the eye tracker directly substitutes control input devices, such as gamepads. The study was conducted on a custom endless runner FPS, Zombie Runner, using an affordable eye tracker. Evaluation sessions showed that the proposed use of eye tracking provides a more challenging and immersive experience to the player, when compared to its absence. However, a strong correlation between eye tracker calibration problems and player’s overall experience was found. This means that eye tracking technology still needs to evolve but also means that once technology gets mature enough players are expected to benefit greatly from the inclusion of eye tracking in their gaming experience.
Eye tracking has been explored in computer games as an alternative to traditional input methods, such as mouse or keyboard @cite_5 @cite_14 . By testing gaze input versus mouse input in three different computer games, Smith and Graham @cite_5 concluded that the use of eye tracking can provide a more immersive experience to the player. Isokoski and Martin @cite_17 conducted a preliminary study on the use of eye tracker in First Person Shooters. Each participant in the test was asked to play the same game using three different input method schemes: (1) mouse, keyboard, and eye tracker; (2) only mouse and keyboard; or (3) a console gamepad. The conclusions were not exactly encouraging, suggesting that the performance with the eye tracker was quite inferior to the other two. However, Isokoski and Martin attributed these results to the players' greater knowledge and contact with the traditional input methods, suggesting that this scenario could change with more training.
@cite_5 @cite_14 @cite_17
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We present a study that explores the use of a commercially available eye tracker as a control device for video games. We examine its use across multiple gaming genres and present games that utilize the eye tracker in a variety of ways. First, we describe a first-person shooter that uses the eyes to control orientation. Second, we study the use of eye movements for more natural interaction with characters in a role playing game. And lastly, we examine the use of eye tracking as a means to control a modified version of the classic action arcade game Missile Command. Our results indicate that the use of an eye tracker can increase the immersion of a video game and can significantly alter the gameplay experience. The quality and availability of eye tracking equipment has been increasing while costs have been decreasing. These trends increase the possibility of using eye trackers for entertainment purposes. Games that can be controlled solely through movement of the eyes would be accessible to persons with decreased limb mobility or control. On the other hand, use of eye tracking can change the gaming experience for all players, by offering richer input and enabling attention-aware games. Eye tracking is not currently widely supported in gaming, and games specifically developed for use with an eye tracker are rare. This paper reviews past work on eye tracker gaming and charts future development possibilities in different sub-domains within. It argues that based on the user input requirements and gaming contexts, conventional computer games can be classified into groups that offer fundamentally different opportunities for eye tracker input. In addition to the inherent design issues, there are challenges and varying levels of support for eye tracker use in the technical implementations of the games. The reported work is a part of an effort to evaluate a range of input devices in this context. Our results on the other devices in the same game allow us to compare the efficiency of eye trackers as game controllers against more conventional devices. Our goal regarding eye trackers is to see whether they can help players perform better. Some FPS games are played competitively over the Internet. If using an eye tracker gives an edge in competitive play, players may want to acquire eye tracking equipment. Eye trackers as input devices in FPS games have been investigated before (Jonsson, 2005), but that investigation focused on user impressions rather than on the efficiency and effectiveness of eye trackers in this domain. However, Jonsson’s results on eye tracker efficiency in a non-FPS game were encouraging. In this thesis visual search experiments are devised to explore the feasibility of an eye gaze driven search mechanism. The thesis first explores gaze behaviour on images possessing different levels of saliency. Eye behaviour was predominantly attracted by salient locations, but appears to also require frequent reference to non-salient background regions which indicated that information from scan paths might prove useful for image search. The thesis then specifically investigates the benefits of eye tracking as an image retrieval interface in terms of speed relative to selection by mouse, and in terms of the efficiency of eye tracking mechanisms in the task of retrieving target images. Results are analysed using ANOVA and significant findings are discussed. Results show that eye selection was faster than a computer mouse and experience gained during visual tasks carried out using a mouse would benefit users if they were subsequently transferred to an eye tracking system. Results on the image retrieval experiments show that users are able to navigate to a target image within a database confirming the feasibility of an eye gaze driven search mechanism. Additional histogram analysis of the fixations, saccades and pupil diameters in the human eye movement data revealed a new method of extracting intentions from gaze behaviour for image search, of which the user was not aware and promises even quicker search performances. The research has two implications for Content Based Image Retrieval: (i) improvements in query formulation for visual search and (ii) new methods for visual search using attentional weighting. Futhermore it was demonstrated that users are able to find target images at sufficient speeds indicating that pre-attentive activity is playing a role in visual search. A current review of eye tracking technology, current applications, visual perception research, and models of visual attention is discussed. A review of the potential of the technology for commercial exploitation is also presented.