A General Model for Electroencephalography-Controlled Brain-Computer Interface Games

Abstract

The rapid expansion of Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology allowed for the recent development of applications outside of clinical environments, such as education, arts and games. Games controlled by electroencephalography (EEG), a specific case of BCI technology, benefit from both areas, since they can be played by virtually any person regardless of physical condition, can be applied in numerous serious and entertainment contexts, and are ludic by nature. However, they also share the same challenges of design and development from both fields, especially since they demand numerous specific and specialized knowledge for their development. In this sense, this work presents a model for games using EEG-based BCI controls. The proposed model is intended to help researchers describe, compare and develop new EEG-controlled games by instantiating its abstract and functional components using concepts from the fields of BCI and games. A group of EEG-controlled games from the literature was selected to demonstrate the usefulness and representativeness of the model. The demonstration showed that an overview classification and the details of the selected games were able to be described using the model and its components.