In-game Heart Rate Variability in Habitual University Student League of Legends Players: Correlations with In-game Performance, Game Rank and Internet Addiction Scale

Abstract

Abstract It has been reported that individuals with internet gaming disorder (IGD) display abnormal autonomic activities at rest and during gameplay. To further understand in-game changes of autonomic activity and how they are modulated by behavioral performance and human characteristics of the player, heart rate variability (HRV) was measured in 42 male university student habitual players (HPs) when they played a round of League of Legends game naturalistically. Various HRV indices derived from heart rate recording in the whole game (WG) were correlated with in-game performance and gaming-related personal attribute parameters, including ranking score, hours of weekly playing and revised Chen Internet addiction scale (CIAS-R) of the player. It was observed that HRV indicators of sympathetic activity correlated with the number of Slain in WG (Nslain). In comparison, HRV indicators of parasympathetic/vagal activity correlated not only with Nslain, but also with ranking score and CIAS-R. HRV indices representing autonomic balance were found to be predicted by CIAS-R only, regardless of in-game performance. In-game HRV/autonomic activities largely remained stable across different phases of gameplay. However, the individuals at high risk of developing IGD (i.e., CIAS-R>63) showed augmented sympathetic activation in the early and late phases, indicating that IGD-related autonomic dysregulation may have arisen from and reflected the complex interactions between the personal attributes of the player and situational factors embedded in game mechanics.