  Using highly interactive systems like computer games requires a lot of visual
activity and eye movements. Eye movements are best characterized by visual
fixation - periods of time when the eyes stay relatively still over an object.
We analyzed the distributions of fixation duration of professional athletes,
amateur and newbie players. We show that the analysis of fixation durations can
be used to deduce the skill level in computer game players. Highly skilled
gaming performance is characterized by more variability in fixation durations
and by bimodal fixation duration distributions suggesting the presence of two
fixation types in high skill gamers. These fixation types were identified as
ambient (automatic spatial processing) and focal (conscious visual processing).
The analysis of computer gamers' skill level via the analysis of fixation
durations may be used in developing adaptive interfaces and in interface
design.
