I was talking to Nick the other day about a decade-old attempt to use neurofeedback in games. MindDrive was supposed to "harness the brain's impulses" to control simple movements in games. The device was developed by Ron Gordon, former Atari chief executive. He was actually attempting to create a kind of biofeedback remote control for just about anything. He never managed to get further than detecting lateral movement, which is maybe good enough for opening the fridge (maybe) but certainly not good enough to detect complex physical and emotional states. Anyway, that was back in the mid 1990s.

It seems that not much has changed since then. The other day, Kotaku pointed out this article on neurotech, including a mention of BioControl Systems, a company making "devices that allow people to control computerized equipment with their nerve impulses." Among the foundering company's clients,

Probably the most successful implementation of biofeedback in games is Journey to Wild Divine, a reallly impressive specimen that responds to physical feedback like heart rate and skin conductance. One of the reasons Wild Divine is successful, however, is that it's specific purpose is meditation and stress reduction. It's purpose is to make the player aware of his or her phsyical state, and to help the player understand and control that state.

Reading the absurdly Polyannaish Ability article on MindDrive and this recent device from the Mercury News, coupled with all the rumors and weird patents on brain-controlled PlayStations just makes it clear that we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the representation of emotion in games. The just-released Façade is one example of a heavy-duty AI approach, but other possibilities exist too. I think the continued interest in neurotech says more about our lack of interest, commitment, or comfort with exploring human emotions as expressive systems instead of technical systems that can be mastered or controlled. Presently, I have no interest in the technofetishism of brain-connected devices. I'd much rather see videogames that explore emotions than try to respond to parameterized versions of my own.

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