Haptic feedback in first person shooter video games

Abstract

Immersion has become an important factor for video games. This study investigates the effect that haptic feedback has on the perceived immersion of the player in two different setups; one with haptic feedback in the game controller and one with feedback in a haptic vest. Both experiments consisted of a user test, followed by answering a questionnaire. The results show tendencies of haptic feedback both increasing and inhibiting the ability to feel immersed by certain metrics, even if the statistical analysis shows no significant difference between the groups in any of the sub-scales. The results also show that most of the test subjects thinks that the vest and its’ haptic feedback delivers more immersion to the gaming experience. The conclusion that can be drawn from both experiments is that haptic feedback improves the user feeling of immersion, more specifically regarding the players awareness of the surroundings in the game.