20 February, 2011

A Bit More On Biometrics

written by Blain Newport on Sunday, 20 February, 2011

There were a couple more things about biometrics I wanted to mention. Valve had a debug setup where they could play Left 4 Dead competitively and see the excitement level of everyone playing. They noticed that people often attacked the most excited player on the other team and defended the most excited player on their own team. And this is definitely valuable data to have as a player. I often get frustrated with teammates who don't know what to do, but if I could see that they were freaking out, I would be more likely to cut them some slack.

Gabe actually thinks this might make the internet significantly more civil, but I doubt it. A lot of the people who behave badly in games do it precisely because they get a rise out of people. Being able to see your jerkiness have a quantitative effect will probably just make it more fun for them.

Also, the second people catch on that The Director attacks them less when they're exited, or that everyone helps the person with the highest excitement, they'll just lick their hand so the sensor thinks they're totally sweaty and freaking out.

We're gamers. Give us a system; we game it.

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