Eye Tracking, Psycho-physiology & In-Game Advertising

I’m off to the Games Development Conference in San Francisco next month and it reminded me to do some blogs about what we have been up to since we started eye tracking games in 2007. Back then, we were using eyetracking and psycho-physiological measurements to investigate the subconscious processes that gamers experience as they play. The results are impressive:

• The blue spot is where the gamer is looking
• The Red line is his Electro Cardio Graph (ECG) – heart monitor
• The Blue line is Electro Dermal Activity (EDA) – measures sweat
• The Green line is breathing
• The Cyan line is muscle tension in the forearm

The action happens pretty quickly in the video so I’ve taken some stills to make the point clear.

The psycho-physiology read out shows lots of muscle tension and a deep breath in as he hits the Virgin Megastore sign.

A straight piece of road allows the gamer to snatch a glance at the Heads Up Display and check his time.

Eye tracking shows the gamer is looking where he is about to crash, into the Sanyo sign.

The psycho-physiology read out indicates the gamer may have experienced stress as his muscles tense, sweat increases and the heart rate monitor shows  a blip on ‘P’ of his otherwise normal sinus rhythm.

As I noted in 2007, this research shows that simple placement of advertisements in games may not be effective.  Just like good product integration in TV and films, often the best way to promote a product is to integrate it smoothly within the story line.  The movie industry has lots of experience in product integration, as we can see from this charming clip from ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ released in 1946.

The in-game advertising industry is still in it’s formative stages of development and I don’t want to knock it; it has a great future. The time pressures  of developing a game favour the quick and easy approach of simply placing advertisements within games such as Battlefield 2141. Although it’s more work for the developer, more risk for the brand and requires more organisation, Hollywood revenues prove that integrated product placement is a better way to build brands; Donald Trump personally made $50 million in 2008 from product integration in The Apprentice and PQMedia estimate product integration in TV and films will be worth $10 billion in 2010.

I look forward to helping the in game advertising industry emulate the success of Hollywood by proving engagement via subconscious insights and catching up with some of you in person next month at GDC10.

Thanks for reading: http://twitter.com/modestrobert