A Headset That Could Help Cure Gamer Rage

[KMJ_84]

Visual designer Samuel Matson has an idea on how to rid the world of gamer rage. It's not through medication, counselling or discipline. It's through prevention.

He's designed a headset called Immersion, which not only uses biometrics to track a user's heart rate, but can then adjust what's going on in a game accordingly.

Based on researching a number of gamer's heart rates while playing a shooter, and using a raw prototype hooked up to an Xbox 360, the Immersion would gently adjust the difficulty and content of a game based on how the player was feeling.

More here http://kotaku.com/a-headset-that-could-help-cure-gamer-rage-1504749630


Wow - now when I hear of gamers raging, I just laugh to myself. I've never raged to the point of breaking something, screaming down the headset to an opponent.

I'm not sure if this headset is just a fad.

 

[hdejong]

I like the idea and the technology behind it but it would be nearly impossible to implement it. For it to work all games would have to be coded to constantly adjust difficulty.

 

[KMJ_84]

Or parents need to keep their kids in check

 

[Sneeblee]

Yeah it looks like an interesting piece of tech but I would imagine games would have to be designed with this in mind from the ground up. That would take some serious penetration into the market for that to ever happen.

 

[aperture7]

What if it's just an exciting part of the game? I don't want the headset to make it easy because I'm enjoying it.

 

[CpmPanda]

I admit, I might need this for COD when I get spawn trapped and all I wanna do is have fun and play the game and not spawn die spawn die. I tend to go "YOU IDIOTS LET ME SPAWN" then I realize I'm yelling at a tv but it happens at least 1/5 times lol

 

[KMJ_84]

I can just imagine a hoard of parents buying these for their kids next Christmas.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS MOTHER??!"

"Oh honey, it's just a new gaming headset so you can speak with your friends online"

"BUT I ASKED FOR TURTLE BEACH!! WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU, I HATE YOU!!!"

 

[DrRipley]

We've definitely come very far in terms of technology when people are already finding it to be worth their time to solve these types of problems. I don't know how well it would be received even if it did hit mainstream in the future, though, as they would really have to find the perfect level of frustration to keep people interested and I doubt it would be the same ratio for everyone. It would probably be a contribution to other aspects of technology, at least, though, if if it doesn't work out.

 

[Ghost_of_Crash]

Or parents need to keep their kids in check

This. All of this.

*stomps* "C'MON! AGAIN?!! F*** THIS!!!"

"Stomp again in my house and it'll be the last time." *Sonny Chiba glare*

 

[SpaceTiger]

I figure the headset would be like a shock collar for your head.

This. All of this.

*stomps* "C'MON! AGAIN?!! F*** THIS!!!"

"Stomp again in my house and it'll be the last time." *Sonny Chiba glare*

Old School Parenting 101.

 

[cenarion]

I didn't even know "gamer rage" was a widespread problem among the gaming community. Not sure the solution is a headset, though. Anger management classes or something similar would probably be a better approach to this problem.

 

[deathbyprayer]

Well, if games were designed to be good enough, rage quitting would not be a problem! No but seriously, if that piece of tech will actually help kids, then its nice, but I think its more of how parents moderate their kids and how people who have anger issues should really check on themselves.

 

[Annabell]

Well that's very interesting. I wonder how, or if, this would work in in multiplayer with other people. Of course, the games would have to be designed to allow for changing the difficulty on the fly would they not?

 

[SpaceTiger]

With young kids the headset could work, for gamers who have been through that rage before, nah.