Emotion and Body-Based Games: Overview and Opportunities

Abstract

In this chapter we examine research and theory concerning body movement as a means for expressing emotion, and techniques for recognizing expressions of emotion in the context of games. We discuss body movement as a means for biasing emotional experience and encouraging bonding in social interaction. Finally, we discuss gaps and opportunities for future research. Promising directions include broadening the scope of body-based games and emotion to take proprioception into account, as well as other less explored body channels such as muscle activation and action-related sound.