Keep Pushing

Sociological analysis on the video game era

In 2020 16.7 million people played video games. The 38% are Italian citizens with an age ranging from 6 to 64 years, which is what emerges from the annual report of IIDEA (Italian Interactive Digital Entertainment Association). 
"The video game market recorded a historic performance generating a turnover of 2 billion and 179 million euros with an increase of +21.9% compared to 2019. " Marco Saletta - President of IIDEA.
This is a constantly growing phenomenon in which the pandemic from Covid-19 has certainly influenced, since the time spent playing on the various devices has increased on average for each player by 30 minutes a week, reaching 8 hours.
The title "Keep Pushing" is an analogy between the keyboard or pad keys that are pressed while playing, the concentration of gamers, and the heart rate that increases during gaming sessions.
The project focuses on showing who the gamers are through their play stations, the change of their facial expressions, emotions and the peaks in the heartbeat that the games allow the gamers to try.
Each subject photographed was monitored during a session of fifty minutes through a smartwatch.
Cardiac reports showed a marked difference between professional and amateur players. For professional players, the heartbeat is constant even in long-term sessions of three hours.
On the other hand, for non-professional players, the heartbeat peaks are evident and vary according to the number and type of opponents encountered, and the position reached by each gamer at the end of the game.
Currently, tests have been performed with the following games: Call of Duty-Warzone, FIFA, Fortnite, and GTA V.
The project is still in progress.