The patent describes ways to record a player’s emotions, such as biometrics, facial tracking and voice analysis (eg yawning), to decide if the player needs assistance from an NPC. If the system detects that the player is tired, it can add an optimistic NPC to the player’s party and join him on quests.
Patent, entitled “Systems and Methods for Changing User Mood for Playing a Game”aims to change the mood of players by sending an NPC who would affect the mood of the group through “emotional contagion” – if an NPC improves the mood of one player, this happiness can spread to the whole group.
The example discussed in the patent involves an NPC joining a group of players who are tired of the job. It can join the users and make the journey more enjoyable, eg NPCs can be humans or cute animals such as dogs.
This initiative is Sony’s next step towards creating more engaging and exciting games they change according to the needs and moods of players. This is another approach from Sony that could change interaction in video games.
