Researching "the zone"

Post by **Ghegs** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:49 pm

Thought this might be interesting to most.

What we shmuppers often call "the zone" has been recognized and is being researched by some students at the Georgia Institute of Technology. They call it "UPLIFT - Enabling Latent Human Capability Through Gaming".

Basically, they will attempt to analyze that state of mind with bio- and neurofeedback by means of a shmup. They will also release the game on their website, but it's not available for download just yet. In the meanwhile, everybody should check out the PDF docs they have for download - it's really interesting stuff. They also take some games and try to analyze how well they're suited for the hitting the zone.

UPLIFT: Project Website

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 2:30 am

This sounds like it is right up BER's alley.

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 10:33 pm

That is awesome... I wish I were smart.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:59 am

I hope they're not using that Polybius game for their test. Big brother is watching us, kids.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 1:55 am

That is kind of cool, but the question's still gotta be asked: there's NOTHING more important to be studied at our nation's institutions? Heh heh.

It would be interesting if developers took specific elements of a game which would (hypothetically) contribute to "flow" into consideration when developing...if they exist, heh. In any event, if the demo is publically available I'd be interested in trying it for the heck of it...wonder if there'll be joystick support, heh.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 5:09 pm

sounds like an interesting project, and i'd like to get my hands on the game some day. however, in the design doc they state (and i quote)

"As for input-device support, whilst support for game controllers is a potential future addition, the nature of the genre is such that most game controllers would not provide significant gains in usability or playability over the keyboard."

for the record, false.

Samudra · Post by **Samudra** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 7:47 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:That is kind of cool, but the question's still gotta be asked: there's NOTHING more important to be studied at our nation's institutions? Heh heh.

I have to disagree.

Any and all research concerning the inner stuff of our being is of supreme importance to the human race.

Disregard the form it comes in. It is the results which (will) count.

Edit: Went to the site and saw this: Student Researcher: Nathanael Hsien-Ern Ng

Coincidence?