Dynamic Game Balancing by Recognizing Affect.

Dynamic game balancing concerns changing parameters in a game to avoid undesired player emotions, such as boredom and frustration. This is e.g. done by adjusting the game΄s difficulty level to the (increasing) skill level of the player during the game. Currently, most balancing techniques are based on in-game performance, such as the player΄s position in a race. This is, however, insufficient since different types of players exist, with different goals, preferences and emotional responses. Therefore, to deal effectively with a player΄s emotions, a game needs to look beyond the player΄s performance. This paper provides an overview of two groups of potentially useful sources for dynamic game balancing: Overt behavior and physiological responses. In addition, we present EMO-Pacman, a design case that aims to implement these new balancing techniques into the game Pac-Man. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]