Toward Adaptive Virtual Reality Systems: Understanding Emotional and Physiological Responses in VR Game

Virtual reality (VR) affective computing is expanding to include systems that can identify and respond to human emotions. This study explores emotional responses in VR using the game Pong to monitor these reactions under different gameplay conditions. It investigates how game pace and opponent behavior affect emotions, assessed through physiological metrics like electrocardiogram, galvanic skin response, electromyogram, and player behaviors. Results from three game variations—slow-paced, fast-paced, and lag-induced—showed distinct emotional and physiological responses. Significant differences were found in arousal and valence levels, with varying heart rate and skin conductance among the game conditions. These findings suggest that VR game design can significantly influence emotional states, providing insights that could help develop more engaging and responsive VR systems. Thus, this study demonstrates the potential of VR to evoke and measure specific emotional responses, contributing to the fields of human-computer interaction, and affective computing.