2016 International Conference on Frontiers of Information Technology
Classification of Expert-Novice Level of Mobile
Game Players using Electroencephalography
Syed Muhammad Anwar∗ , Sanay Muhammad Umar Saeed‡ , Muhammad Majid‡
∗ Departmentof Software Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, 47050 Pakistan.
s.anwar@uettaxila.edu.pk
‡ Department of Computer Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, 47050 Pakistan.
sanay.muhammad@uettaxila.edu.pk, m.majid@uettaxila.edu.pk
Abstract—An exponential increase has been observed in num-
ber of mobile game players in last five years. An increasing
number of researches have been emerged that assesses the
cognitive aspects of video game players. This creates a need to
classify the expert-novice level of a player. A novel approach
to classify players expert-novice level is to use machine learning
algorithm by considering recorded electroencephalography(EEG)
signals of player while playing mobile games. In this research
work, EEG signals of ten mobile game players is recorded
by commercially available 14 channel EMOTIV headset. After
preprocessing stage, a feature vector is created in such a way
that from each channel, thirteen morphological features are
extracted. The extracted features are used to train three different
classification algorithms. The Naive Bayes performed with an
accuracy of 89.89%. From results, it is evident that EEG can be
used to classify the expert-novice level of a player using machine
algorithms. These results can be useful in the development of
new and interesting entertainment and educational mobile games
taking into account the player’s cognition using EEG.
Index Terms—Mobile Game, EEG, Wearable Sensors, Machine
Learning, Brain Computer Interface.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Video games have existed for a long time now as a means
of entertainment. The advances in computing capabilities
have directly affected this industry. More computation power
means more advanced computer graphics. The vast spread of
smartphones and tablet devices has transformed the whole
gaming industry with a new dimension of mobile games.
The mobile based games have become an activity, which
attracts everyone irrespective of their age and gender. There
has been a significant increase in number of video game
players over the past five years in United States, but most
of the new players prefer mobile and hand-held games over
console gaming [1]. The focus of mobile game development
covers both entertainment and education purpose. In past few
years, a number of researches have been conducted to assess
the cognitive aspects of the video game player [2], [3]. Due
to increase in popularity of mobile gaming and available
literature on cognitive aspects of video game players, there
is a need to classify the expertise level of video game player
within seconds of his/her game play to make the player more
interested in game play as well as to make assessment of
cognitive processes occurring in players brain.
Brain Computer Interface (BCI) has been widely used in
multimedia game industry [4]. The use of automated controls
978-1-5090-5300-1/16 $31.00 © 2016 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/FIT.2016.61
using brain signals promises to be the next big thing in
mobile games. These advancements indicate that this industry
is expected to grow further. There is a huge number of game
players all over the world who are attracted towards games
and spend their time and money to play games. The number
of downloads on Google play store and Apple market place for
games related applications is a big indication of the worth of
mobile game industry. Therefore, the potential for the analysis
of game players becomes even more significant.
In different researches, players reactions have been ex-
amined using electrophysiological measurements such as the
electroencephalography recordings [5], [6]. In order to extract
some meaningful information from EEG signals various tech-
niques have been presented [7]. Preprocessing, feature extrac-
tion and classification of data are the common steps involved
in such techniques. Among the classification techniques, three
major types have been found in the literature. The first kind
of classification methods are based on statistical properties
like k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN) or the Bayesian classifier
[8], [9]. Second type is based on learning methods that are
unsupervised like Radial Basis Function (RBF) [10] and the
third one is based on supervised learning like Linear Dis-
criminant Analysis (LDA) [11], and Support Vector Machines
(SVM) [12]. In [13], motivational states of player have been
predicted during serious game play, but their main focus was
on brain waves and activity. In [14], expert-novice level has
been assessed during game play but that is not based on EEG
signals. In [15], video game players experience is studied
during game play from the recorded EEG signals.
In this paper, a novel method to classify expert-novice level
of a player is proposed, by analyzing acquired EEG signals of
the player during game play. After removal of noise, features
are extracted from each channel of EEG headset. In this
study, supervised and statistical learning algorithms have been
used for the classification of expert-novice level of a player.
Three algorithms, namely, Support vector machine, Multilayer
perceptron and Naive Bayes algorithms are used to classify the
expert-novice level of a player. On the basis of accuracy of
results, the best algorithm is highlighted. The organization of
the paper is as follows: Section II presents an introduction
of machine learning algorithms used. The experimental setup
and methodology employed is described in Section III. It is
followed by discussion of results and conclusion.
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 II. MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHMS
Machine learning algorithms are broadly categorized into
supervised and unsupervised learning methods. A brief detail
about the machine learning algorithms that are employed in
this study is given below.
A. Support Vector Machine (SVM)
It belongs to the class of supervised learning classification
algorithm. It was developed by Vapnik and his team and
has successful application in research for classification and
regression purposes. Structural risk minimization principle
provides the theoretical basis for SVM. It minimizes upper
boundary of the generalization error to calculate a function. It
has high generalization performance as it is least affected by
overtraining. Its training is equivalent to a solution of linearly
constrained quadratic programming problem, which is solved
by using sequential minimal optimization (SMO) algorithm in
this study. It can be used to analyze EEG data linearly as well
as non-linearly [16].
B. Naive Bayes Classifier
It is grouped under the family of statistical classifiers. It is
based on Bayes theorem with naive independence assumptions
between the features. The algorithm can predict classes by
using features based on probabilities and works as follows.
Let us assume a training set with samples that has k class
labels. In our case, two classes are identified, let C1 be Expert
and C2 be Novice class. Let X1 , X2 , · · · , Xn be the samples
that have n attributes denoted by A1 , A2 , · · · An . Based on the
posteriori probability, the algorithm classifies a given sample
X to the class (C1 or C2 ). X is assigned to class Ci if and
only if,
P (Ci |X) > P (Cj |X), (1)
where 1 ≤ j ≤ m and j = i. The train-
ing data is used to compute the conditional probabilities
P (X1 |C), P (X2 |C), · · · , P (Xn |C).
C. Multilayer Perceptron
This neural network operates by making use of three layers;
that are input, output and hidden layers. It adjusts the weights
to estimate a non-linear relationship between the input and
output. Using transfer functions, inputs are mapped to outputs.
The mostly used transfer functions are the sigmoid function
and the hyperbolic function. These functions are quite similar
but their ranges are different. Sigmoid function operates on
the values between 0 and 1 while the hyperbolic function
operates on the values between −1 and +1. Activity of a given
unit is determined in two steps. Firstly, total weighted input
is computed Xj as,
N
 with saline liquid and their location on the players skull is
Xj = yi Wij , (2)
i=1
where yi is the activity level of the j th unit and the connection
weight of ith and the j th unit is represented by Wij . Secondly,
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317
Machine
EEG Feature
Preprocessing Learning
Recording Extraction
Algortihms
Video Expert
Game Player /Novice
Fig. 1. Block diagram of proposed methodology for the classification of
expert-novice level of mobile game player.
activity yj is determined by a function of total weighted input.
In this case, sigmoid function is used for this purpose i.e.,
1
yj = . (3)
1 + e−j
III. M ETHODOLOGY AND E XPERIMENTAL S ETUP
The processing flow used to classify the expert-novice level
of the mobile game player from the recorded EEG data is
shown in Fig. 1. Raw discrete data is recorded from the
EEG EMOTIV headset using EMOTIV SDK in European
Data Format (EDF). Noise is removed by applying a low
pass filter using Hanning window. In feature extraction stage,
13 features are extracted, namely, maximum value, sample
time for maximum value, minimum value, sample time for
minimum value, maximum absolute value, peak to peak value,
latency to minimum value, latency for maximum value, peak
to peak time, sum, average value, power and energy [17].
EEG data is recorded from 10 healthy participants (90%
male and 10% female), ranges 18-22 years (mean=20.37).
The participants in this experiment belong to the Asia pacific
region, having similar educational background. The average
frequency of players to play mobile game is four days per
week. There was no self-reported mental illness by participants
and data was uniform with respect to age. The mobile game
selected for this particular study is Temple Run, which is never
ending mobile game, distributed and programmed by IMANGI
Studios. In Temple Run, the player controls a character, who
steals a treasure from a temple and runs. Demonic monkeys”
follow the character to eat him/her. The player plays the game
until the character dies, either by falling off the temple or by
being eaten by the chasing monkeys. Player can swipe up,
down, left or right, to maneuver the character during game
play. In specialized scenarios, player can also tilt the mobile
or tablet to change the direction.
EEG signal of the player is recorded by using EMOTIV
headset that has fourteen channels. These electrodes are used
shown in Fig. 2. This headset uses fourteen channels only but
provides a good spatial resolution and coverage of the frontal,
peripheral, occipital and temporal areas of the brain. There is
one additional electrode for each hemisphere of the head that
act as a reference electrode. The EMOTIV fourteen channel
 TABLE I
P ERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF THREE MACHINE LEARNING
ALGORITHMS USED FOR CLASSIFICATION OF EXPERT- NOVICE LEVEL .

Algorithm Correctly Incorrectly Time Taken Kappa

Used Classified % Classified % sec Statistic
Naive Bayes 88.89 11.11 0.03 0.7356
SVM 80 20 0.1 0.5424
MLP 80 20 1 0.5424

used for supervised and statistical learning.

IV. RESULTS
Classification of expert-novice level is performed by using
extracted features from EEG recorded data. There are three
classifiers that are used namely, Naive Bayes, SVM and
MLP. In order to compare the classification algorithms, kappa
Fig. 2. International electrode positioning system over the scalp (10-20)
system [18].
statistic, root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute error
(MAE), relative absolute error (RAE) and root relative squared
error (RRSE) is calculated from Eq. (4) to Eq. (8).
Pr (a) − Pr (e)
headset follows the international 10-20 system for their spatial kappa = , (4)
1 − Pr (e)
placement. The EEG data is recorded at a sampling rate of 
128 Hz and the bandwidth is between 0.2-45 Hz. During  N
1 
the experimentation, a comfortable chair and a smartphone RM SE =  (yi − ȳ), (5)
with temple run installed, is provided to the participants. n i=1
EEG signal is recorded for each participant in the same N
environment. During the game play, room lights are switched 
M AE = (|ei |), (6)
off to avoid any disturbance. It is carefully observed that no i=1
syncing error is occurred in EEG signal acquisition while game
N

play. Fig. 3 shows the participant wearing EMOTIV EEG
(|Pij − Tj |)
headset while playing mobile game. Each participant is given
j=1
five turns to play the game. After every turn, the score of each RAE = N
, (7)
participant is recorded manually. The average time taken by 
(|Tj − T̄ |)
each participant in playing the mobile game is 24.7 minutes.
j=1
The score of each participant is recorded in a table for each 
of the five turns. The total score is added and averaged out  N

to label each player as expert or novice. This labeled data is  ((Pij − Tj )2 )

 j=1
RRSE = 
 N , (8)
 
 2
((Tj − T̄ ) )
j=1

A 10-fold cross validation scheme is utilized for classi-

Fig. 3. A participant playing mobile game while wearing fourteen-channel
EMOTIV headset.
fication of data. The performance of different classification
algorithms used in terms of correctly classified, incorrectly
classified, time taken and kappa statistic is shown in TABLE. I.
It is evident that the Naive Bayes classification algorithm gives
an accuracy of 89.89%, correctly classifying 40 out of 45
instances. Moreover, the Naive Bayes algorithm takes 0.03
seconds to classify the data, which is less than SVM and
MLP three and thirty times respectively. It is also observed
from TABLE. I that both the SVM and MLP gives the same
kappa statistic of 0.5424 that is 0.2 less than the Naive
Bayes classifier. Fig. 4 represents the comparison of error
performance of algorithms used in this study. It is evident
from Fig. 4 that for all the error parameters, the Naive Bayes
algorithm shows minimum error values as compared to the

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Fig. 4. Comparison of error parameters of different algorithms used for
classification (adjusted between range of 0 and 1).
Multilayer perceptron and Support vector machine algorithms.
Multilayer perceptron, however, gives better error performance
than Support vector machine. Multilayer perceptron takes
very large computational time as compared to the other two
algorithms used for the classification of expert-novice level of
a game player.
V. CONCLUSION
A novel method based on EEG signals is presented in
this paper to classify expert-novice level of mobile game
player. The Naive Bayes, SVM and MLP are three different
algorithms that are used for this purpose. From recorded
EEG data of players during game play, a total of thirteen
morphological features have been calculated. The performance
of Naive Bayes classifier is considerably better when compared
in terms of accuracy, time taken, kappa statistic and error
performance. The classification accuracy of Naive Bayes is
9% more than SVM and MLP. Moreover, computation time
of Naive Bayes is three and thirty times less than SVM and
MLP respectively. The difference between Kappa statistic of
the Naive Bayes and other algorithms is 0.2. In case of the
Naive Bayes algorithm, error magnitude is much less than the
other algorithms used. This follows that the Naive Bayes is the
classifier that can be used in EEG based gaming applications
to classify the players expertise level during game play. In
future, we intend to predict the accurate score of the video
game player by recording its EEG and also to explore the
stress induced during game play from the BCI point of view.
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