The effects of forewarning in horror games on emotional response

Research background

The purpose of this research project is to investigate how forewarning affects emotional response in horror games, the hypothesis being that a forewarned horror event in a horror game will yield an increased emotional response compared to that of a horror event without forewarning.

We investigated different types of forewarning as well as horror game design. Furthermore, emotional response and ways to measure it were researched.

Method and game

A horror game prototype implementing several different horror events with and without forewarning was tested using a repeated measures design. Emotional response was measured using both subjective and objectives methods, i.e. self-report questionnaires and heart rate measurement, respectively.

Inspiration was drawn from horror movies. The game takes place in a house with a set path that contains four events/scares; One event uses audio forewarning, another uses both audio and visual forewarning and the last two has no forewarning.

Conclusion

The test results were correlated, analysed and tested for statistical significance. They showed that the forewarning of horror events did not make a significant difference on emotional response. However, as findings regarding an increase in heart rate would suggest, it could be argued that the horror game itself is acting as forewarning.

My contribution

Analysis, game design, report writing, research, test setup and execution
We were a group of four people.