Remote Heart Rate Sensing and Projection to Renew Traditional Board Games and Foster Social Interactions

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel application of remote heart rate sensing via webcams to enhance social interactions in traditional board games, providing insights into user reactions and design considerations.

Contribution

It introduces a method to augment board games with remote physiological sensing and offers guidelines for integrating sensors into game design.

Findings

Players experienced stress when deprived of their own signals

Webcam-based sensing effectively captures heart rate data

Design strategies can improve social engagement through physiological feedback

Abstract

While physiological sensors enter the mass market and reach the general public, they are still mainly employed to monitor health -- whether it is for medical purpose or sports. We describe an application that uses heart rate feedback as an incentive for social interactions. A traditional board game has been "augmented" through remote physiological sensing, using webcams. Projection helped to conceal the technological aspects from users. We detail how players reacted -- stressful situations could emerge when users are deprived from their own signals -- and we give directions for game designers to integrate physiological sensors.