Eye tracking in gaming, how does it work?

Technology should provide compelling human experiences by tapping into our senses.
That is what eye tracking does.

An eye tracker lets your PC know where you are visually focused, giving you an extra input mode when it comes to gaming. It also makes the interaction feel more real. Your experience becomes richer, and your instincts extend into the game itself. All this made possible by illuminators and sensors that calculate your gaze point on your device's screen.

The field of view of your eyes is approximately 200-220°, but most of it is your peripheral vision. You can see clearly on your screen within your macular view of 18° and details within your foveal view of 1-2°. But when you use head and eye movement combined, the in-game camera will move accordingly to give you a field of view beyond screen limits.
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So how does eye tracking work exactly?

If you watch the video below, you can find out more about eye tracking and how it's beneficial for gaming. Please note that this video was made for our Gamer Affiliate Program, which is no longer active. It just contains too much good stuff not to share.

Eye tracking in games

In Tobii Tech we are mainly focusing on gaming where we have four focal points. Eye tracking in gaming is a game-changer, but not a replacement. Just as your hands operate the mouse, gamepad, and keyboard - your eye movement is now also a source of input. Natural actions and reactions like aiming, taking cover, or panning your gaze are now possible with minimal effort. 

Immersive Graphics
Clean Screen
Dynamic Depth of Field
Dynamic Light Exposure
Directional Sound

With the game knowing where your gaze point is, it will know more about your instincts and intentions. Imagine this. In-game, you are standing in the middle of a field, and you are looking up to the sky. The lighting will adjust based on where you are looking. 

Natural Targeting
Cover at Gaze
Secondary Weapon at Gaze
Enemy Tagging
Select at Gaze
Fire at Gaze
Aim at Gaze

You spot an enemy, and you need to get into a proper position where you can take a shot at him. So, look for the best spot for cover, and when you are looking at it, go. The game has the information to know where you are looking and can bring your character to the spot you are focusing on rather than you having to bring the center of the in-game camera to get to that spot. Way more intuitive, right? It makes life a little bit easier.

Gaze Awareness
Interact at Gaze

Imagine being in a game where your environment can react to your gaze. If you have eye contact with someone, they might start talking to you. If games know where you're looking, they could also make use of that in a way that they can try to scare you. Imagine looking into a mirror, and all of a sudden, it cracks, just because you were looking at it. So with eye tracking, you can have different items, objects and NPCs react in specific ways based on where you are looking. In horror games, it might not be for the faint-hearted.

Infinite Screen
Extended View
Freeview

With our Infinite Screen features, you can effortlessly look around in all directions. An immersive experience if you play a lot of simulator games where you're driving or flying in first-person view. With Extended View, you can get eye tracking and head tracking in combination, which allows you to make small movements as well as more significant movements. Head tracking will allow you to move the in-game camera very quickly from left to right, and at the same time, you can make smaller movements with eye tracking. By using Extended View, you will have better situational awareness by using a natural way of looking around while you're in control of a vehicle.