The Use of Brain–Computer Interfaces in Games Is Not Ready for the General Public

The use of brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) based on electroencephalography (EEG) in video games has been widely investigated. Research in adaptive training, single-trial classification (Congedo, 2013; Barachant and Congedo, 2014) and the creation of affordable EEG acquisition devices (Vos et al., 2014; Yohanandan et al., 2018) has paved the way for the development of a ubiquitous BCI technology. For example, Congedo (2013) developed “Brain Invaders,” a BCI game inspired by the famous vintage game Space Invaders (Taito, Tokyo, Japan) and based on the socalled visual P300—an electromagnetic potential produced by the brain about 300ms after a visual stimulation. Brain Invaders uses an adaptive algorithm that allows the player to plug the material and play without the need for calibration (Barachant and Congedo, 2014), while still achieving a high accuracy rate (Barachant et al., 2012). The game also demonstrates a good understanding of game design by naturally incorporating visual stimulations in the virtual environment. In this respect, Kaplan et al. (2013), Cattan et al. (2018b), and Rashid et al. (2020) provided a set of guidelines to adapt game implementation for BCI games, such as the use of turn-based games with a slow gameplay. Although Brain Invaders use a research-grade amplifier, the feasibility of using a low-cost EEG acquisition system for BCI has been demonstrated by Vos et al. (2014) and Yohanandan et al. (2018). These affordable headsets are comparable with research-grade amplifiers. In addition, Lotte et al. (2008) and Debener et al. (2012) demonstrated promising results when BCIs were used out of the lab for BCIs based on visual stimulation and movement imagination. The feasibility of using BCIs outside the lab has also been demonstrated in different context and at events. For instance, in the BCI game developed by Mentalista (Paris, France) for the 2016 European Football Championship, two players were asked to score against each other by moving a ball toward the opposite player’s cage by concentrating1. Although a positive step forwards, these achievements have led to the false opinion that BCIs are ready for entertainment – a belief that is supported by enthusiastic visions claiming, for example, that brains will be connected to the internet through USB2. This opinion is rather qualified in the scientific community, which reported that BCIs suffer from (1) a low transfer rate, (2) a lack of market-ready, affordable, and user-friendly research-grade EEG acquisition devices, and (3) a gap between the game design and graphics of video games available on the market vs. in laboratories. Priorities of these limitations for video game development are discussed in the literature (Nijholt et al., 2009; Ferreira et al., 2013;Marshall et al., 2013; van de Laar et al., 2013; Ahn et al., 2014; Cattan et al., 2018b; Kerous et al., 2018; Vasiljevic and Miranda, 2019; Pierce et al., 2020), and in general preponderance of quantitative over qualitative aspects is criticized (Nijholt et al., 2009; Vasiljevic and Miranda, 2019). This article supports the claim that BCIs are not ready for general public use, based on other aspects than performance. Limitations are further detailed in section Limitations of BCI Games of the present study, and the obstacles to public use are analyzed. The conclusion is presented in section Discussion and Conclusion.