UC Santa Cruz

All the Feels is a tool I created that provides an overlay of biometric and webcam-derived data onto the interface of the popular video game streaming service, Twitch. This overlay provides visualization of heart rate, skin conductance, and facial emotion recognition. It is

intended for two purposes: one, to enhance the spectator experience and improve streamer-spectator connection and two, to evaluate players’ emotional response to games. I present results of a few preliminary studies (phase 1 and phase 2) investigating reactions to the

introduction of this tool in various environments through the Twitch streaming platform. The first two studies are accounts of results via live-testing with streamers and spectators, and the third is with the tool used in combination with other methods to evaluate player

experience in games. This work opens up opportunities to improve the streaming experience and spectator engagement through the introduction of an interface that includes biometric signals, and also has broader applications as a tool for understanding player experience in general. The thesis describes this tool both as a way of evaluating players’ emotional response to games, and also as a way for spectators to see players’ emotional response to games. I discuss the implementation in terms of these two different contexts, while providing ideas for future use of this tool in games user research.