Mental War: An Attention-Based Single/Multiplayer Brain-Computer Interface Game

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) are a novel kind of user interface that allows the recognition of specific user intentions by reading the user's brain activity, translating it into commands and transmitting them to the computer. With increasing advances in the technology behind these interfaces, gaming applications using cerebral input are becoming more common, although the employment of this kind of control for games is still relatively low in comparison to other traditional input modalities. This paper presents Mental War, a brain-controlled multiplayer computer game, in which two or more players are able to compete against each other, or work together in a collaborative mode to achieve a common goal, both using only their mental state alone. Their level of concentration is measured using a single-sensor BCI headset and translated into force to pull a rope in a tug-of-war game. The design and implementation process of the game are detailed and discussed. An evaluation process was performed with a total of 24 participants to acquire qualitative data regarding the interaction with the BCI platform, validating the design and providing insights for developers in future BCI-based research.