Towards Understanding the Design of Body-Actuated Play

Bodily games often use players’ physiology as input to provide output via screen-based modalities. Game design researchers could extend the use of the body as input and output (I/O) by using body-actuating technologies such as Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS). EMS works by passing a small amount of electricity via electrodes attached to the player’s body, contracting their muscles to actuate involuntary body movements. Our work explores this bodily I/O by creating three "body-actuated play" systems ranging from single-player to social game experiences. Ultimately, by studying the associated user experiences of these systems, we will deduce a prescriptive design framework for designing bodily games in which humans can use their bodies as input and output.