Mood Lighting for Gaming

By Sandra Kiume
April 25, 2008

In the mental health blogosphere this week my favourite post came from Dr. Shock, in a post that is part of the cool Research Blogging initiative. He reported on a new paper published in Cyberpsychology & Behavior called Lighting in Digital Game Worlds: Effects on Affect and Play Performance, by Igor Knez and Simon Niedenthal.

Lighting has been shown to have effects on mood in the physical world (both sunlight and artificial light; see lots of info on the subject). Blue light, as is found in fluorescent light tubes, has been linked to cognitive arousal (on the upside) as well as insomnia, hormonal disruptions and cancer (on the downside). The decline in the intensity of light can lead to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and blue/green and full-spectrum light are used in phototherapy, an effective cure for winter depression.

On the flipside, amber and red light can be used to block out blue light to help relieve insomnia and overstimulation. The relaxing effects–tones that mimic light from candle flames–apparently have benefits in virtual game worlds as well. 38 people played Half Life 2 in maze sequences using different lighting conditions: neutral gray, cool (bluish) and warm (reddish). In the warm light they felt “happier and gladder, more enthusiastic and peppy” to a significant number. “According to the results, the participants performed best and fastest in the warm lighting, and they felt significantly more pleasant in that condition.”

Dr. Shock quips:

These results are important for game designers and developers of online communities and visual worlds. Nevertheless maybe in the future also for indoor lighting and even depression considering the effects on mood. Wouldn’t it be nice when suffering from depression and being treated with computer games three times a day?

However, it seems that skill and confidence might have had an even bigger effect: “…medium- and high-skilled players felt calmer and more relaxed than the low-skilled players did, independently of the lighting.” The authors note that a digital gaming environment is a complex artifact with many factors involved, but the study is a step forward for design.