Device Reduces Stress While Gaming

Bayscribe writes "Vyro Games, a Dublin Ireland company, unveils a device today that forces you to relax while playing games. It is called a PiP, or "Personal Input Pod," and it measures things like the moisture in your hand to assess whether you're stressed. If you're showing signs of stress, your performance in a game deteriorates. If you relax, you do much better. The PiP communicates wirelessly with software on devices such as mobile phones, PCs or games consoles... If you relax, the dragon spreads its wings and flies. If not, it stumbles all over the place."

moisture in your hand...

[Spy der Mann]

like the moisture in your hand to assess whether you're stressed.

In other words, whenever your palm gets sweaty, you're stressed. And I'm supposed tu buy an expensive device to tell me that? O.o

Depends on the game

[PlatyPaul]

... and on how you play it. Think, first and foremost, about how you play a FPS. Those who favor snipers need a steady aim and patience - the stress-free style. However, those who favor blitzkrieg moves (or leapfrog-style run-and-gun in a small team) need to be quick and erratic - the hyped-up style. Besides which, consider the time of play: for those who end up playing long into the night, a rush is needed to keep on top of things.

It's no surprise, then, that stimulants are so common [tomsgames.com]. I'm actually pretty surprised that they aren't selling energy drinks with added Diazepam [wikipedia.org] to counteract the jitters....

Re:Problem?

[grimJester]

A stress-reinforcing feedback loop might be common at first, but I suspect you actually learn to relax when you get clear feedback from working yourself up. Imagine a situation at work when you're stressed - when you realize you are stressed and just making things worse, you can really force yourself to relax.

I'd be more afraid of getting used to that feedback and not being able to relax without it...

This is similar to an idea I once had

[hey!]

for cars.

You'd have a device which monitored physiological measures of stress and aggression in the driver, as well as behavioral measures such as weaving, blowing the horn, etc.. A heads up display would score the driver's net aggression score: green, yellow or red

After half a minute or so in the red zone, the sustained speed available to the driver would begin to drop. He could still accelerate for emergency maneuvering, but only for a few seconds, after which power to the engine would be reduced. After such a maneuver, his speed limit would drop even more unless he moved his physiological stress markers towards baseline, which would always be rewarded by an upward increment of speed. At the worst case, a speed limit would be enforced which would not be unsafe in the right lane of a highway, say 40mph or so. After a minute at this bottom level, a visual signal would alert others to the presence of a dangerous driver, and the driver would be legally required to find a place to stop and cool off.

Eventually, operant conditioning would result in drivers automatically modulating their stress levels when behind the wheel. People would learn to keep the needle on the green, zooming to their destinations with unlimited speed, arriving relaxed and refreshed. Even with traffic, they'd be able to monitor their stress levels and would be trained to limit it.