Guess who? An interactive and entertaining game-like platform for investigating human emotions

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the design and the development of a highly customizable interactive platform 'Guess Who', which was designed as a tool for investigating human emotions in a variety of experimental setups. In its essence, 'Guess Who?' is actually a game, which includes typical game elements (winning, loosing, scoring) and can also be played purely for entertainment purposes. The design of the game includes three major elements; 1) experimenter- friendly customizable interface, 2) single player mode-laying against an intelligent computer, 3) two player mode - playing with a remote opponent over the internet via audio video communication channel. Early user evaluations show that Guess Who game is not only a very productive research tool for researchers, where researchers are able to record valuable data in different experimental conditions in a natural way, but also a great source of entertainment for children. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.