Emsense, a San Francisco-based technology company, recently conducted a study linking players' emotional response to specific gameplay elements on several popular FPS titles. Included in the list of test games were Battlefield 2142, Call of Duty 3, F.E.A.R., Gears of War, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, and Resistance: Fall of Man, Halo 2 and Half-Life 2.

They gathered over 300 hours of data by hooking gamers up to biometric scanners and then recording brainwave activity, heart rate, respiration, eye movement, temperature and motor response over 90 minutes of gameplay.

After a thorough analysis of the data, they concluded that emotional response was generally highest and most positive during moments of frantic close combat. They said on the subject:

Close combat was the most reliable method of creating engagement, adrenaline, reward, and all the emotions that make shooters so much fun. Certainly, this is nothing new to the genre, but the next-gen games that excelled in this area were exceptionally strong at creating high-paced close combat frequently.

As a personal point of interest, the data shows that sword kills in Halo 2 reward 30% more positive emotional response over the genre benchmark.

You can view the full study and data in the source link below.

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