The Sequel to Last Year's 'Living with Lag' Puts Lag Frustration to the Test

Is it possible to experience lag without getting frustrated? - the sequel to Living with Lag puts lag frustration to test Professionals from fields with a high stress tolerance were invited to play a simple game, with lag. Using the brain-sensing headset Emotiv EPOC that measured stress and frustration levels, the challenge of the game was to stay calm, or else the lag would increase and disrupt the game play. The experiment showed that no one could handle lag without getting frustrated, though the fire fighter and the pastor proved to be less affected by it compared to other professionals such as a police officer, combat diver and a yoga instructor.

To perform the experiment, a custom-made game that responded to the frustration levels was built, using a Emotiv EPOC brain-sensing headset, Mio FUSE heart rate monitor and a gyroscope sensor for movement control. The technology made it possible to measure the player’s heart rate and brain waves in different frequencies such as frustration, engagement/boredom, mediation and excitement. By connecting the frustration levels to the amount of lag, the objective of the game was to stay unaffected and calm, or else the lag would increase and disrupt the game play.

The lag stress test is initiated by the fiber broadband provider ume.net that that wanted to see if anyone could experience lag without getting frustrated. ume.net is also the initiator behind last year’s viral video ”Living with Lag” - an experiment that brought lag into real life.

"We want to be in the forefront when it comes to broadband innovation," says Agneta Filén Marketing Director at ume.net (part of Umea Energi). "There are enough situations in our everyday life that can cause frustration. Slow Internet shouldn’t be one of them if there are other alternatives."

Among the volunteers there were professionals from various fields with a high stress tolerance; a police officer, fire fighter, bartender, midwife, doctor, yoga instructor, pastor and a combat diver to mention a few. The fire fighter and the pastor proved to be less affected by lag, while the police inspector, midwife and yoga instructor reacted the most.

The experiment was created by the advertising agency ANR BBDO together with the production company B-Reel.

"Most of us are familiar with frustration caused by slow Internet connection," says Oskar Skott, Art Director at ANR BBDO. "With this experiment we wanted to find out how lag really affects us physically."