Add a online game to the experiment

zohar

Hi everyone,

I would like to ass some online game (e.g., sudoku / set game) as a distracting test for a memory experiment.

Do you have any idea how can I do it?

It's important that the task will not be a verbal game.

Thank you!

Zohar

Fab

Hi @zohar,

There are different ways to do that, I'd say.

Method 1: You program your own game within OS. Depending on what you want to do, this might be hard work (you'd have to combine OS objects and Javascript). You'd basically build a game from scratch within OS. That would give you full control, make sure you can stop the game when you want and direct the participant to the recall phase of your task. Another advantage is that everything would happen in the same window.

Method 2: After you've presented your memory items in the task, you use script to open a new window in your browser and direct it to a URL where some online game can be found. One problem, however, is that you can't close that window when you want from OS, so you'd have to have the subject return to the window where your task is running manually. The URL with the game could be one that already exists out there (there are loads of online pages to play tictactoe, sudoku etc.; e.g., http://jsmadeeasy.com/javascripts/Games/ouths_and_crosses/ouths_and_crosses-sample.htm; https://sudoku.com/easy/), or it could be something you've programmed yourself and host on your own server. The drawback of this method is twofold: (1) you don't have control over what happens in the game; (unless you've programmed it yourself), and (2) you can't close that window when you want (I believe that this used to be possible but that it is no longer supported by browsers for security reasons).

Here are ideas to work around these problems. There are not perfect, but since OS can't close the specific browser window where the game is running, that's probably your best bet. The solution to the first problem is to somehow alert the participant to return to the task window. A visual message in your task is pointless because your participant will be busy in the other window playing the game. This could be done with an auditory alert, however. The trick is to build your alert so as to include the delay period (for example, your sound would contain 30 seconds of silence and then the message "Please return to the task") and to trigger the presentation of with a sampler object (of a duration of 0ms) before you open the new window with the game..

Here's how that would work:

As you can see, after the presentation of the to-be-remembered materials, a sound is played. That sound contains 30 seconds of silence and the message "please return to the task". Notice the duration of 0 ms, however, which means that the task trigger the sound and, while it is playing, carries on.

The next step is to use Javascript to open a new window to present the game:

window.open("https://playtictactoe.org/", "_blank")

Note that the "_blank" parameters ensures that the game opens in a new window and does not replace the task!

The next key step is a delay (here set to 30 sec). This simply ensure that if the participant returns to the task too early to the task window, they'll see "On hold. Enjoy the game!" instead of the recall test.

While they're playing in the other window, after 30 seconds, they'll hear "Please return to the task" (you can of course record whatever message you want; could even ask them to close the game window), and will find the recall test on the screen when returning to the task.

Here's a little demo I put together to show you how to implement it:

Game_during_RI auditory call.osexp

Variation of method 2

If you're knowledgeable with web programming and editing, you could also decide to take the code and associated files,pictures etc. from some online game page, modify them to your requirements and host them on your own server. You can find relatively simple games and their code on numerous sites (e.g., http://jsmadeeasy.com/javascripts/Games/list_test.asp, https://www.sourcecodester.com/javascript/14768/sudoku-game-using-javascript-source-code.html, https://freefrontend.com/javascript-sudoku-games/).

Hope this helps.

Good luck!

Fabrice.

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