Physiological Correlates While Playing Tetris: A Comparative Study Between Males and Females

When developing commercial games, the difficulty level is carefully designed to satisfy the majority of game players. An inappropriate difficulty level can cause stress for game players and lead them to quit the game. Designing a game that is suitable and enjoyable for everyone is a daunting task, especially with the specific individual needs of everyone. Our goal is to provide insights into game design that can be suitable for males and females. Thus, we investigate gender differences in the game Tetris. We compare subjective ratings, questionnaire responses, electrodermal activity (EDA), and electrocardiogram (ECG) data obtained from 5 males and 5 females while playing Tetris. Our results show that a high feeling of control correlates with high skin conductance level (SCL), skin conductance response (SCR), and low heart rate (HR) which was found in the male sample. Low feelings of control and high anxiety correlate with high HR and low SCL and SCR, which was realized in the female sample. Game self-skill, playing hours, and game experience questionnaire (G EQ) responses do not show gender differences in gameplay. Gender differences were exclusively pronounced when physiological data was studied.