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WhitepaperUniversity of Geneva22 Oct 2026

A Blueprint for Unraveling Therapeutic Video Game Design

Game Design
Serious Games
France
Game Studies

Length: 7 pages · ~37 min read
Format: PDF: read online free, download with a free account

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Key insights

6 takeaways

01
Analysis of 25 therapeutic video games for anxiety and depression revealed that design principles are heavily concentrated in three areas: Feedback (60.0% adoption), Goals (52.0%), and Challenge (33.6%).See it on page 1
02
The study identified 36 active design principles (DPs) across 11 classes, but found that 11 other DPs were never observed in the games reviewed, indicating a lack of diversity in therapeutic game architecture.See it on page 1
03
Creative, exploratory, and social-play design elements are significantly underrepresented in current therapeutic games, likely due to the rigid, protocol-driven requirements of randomized clinical trials.See it on page 5
04
Therapeutic games currently rely heavily on single-player formats, which may support private, stigma-free environments but overlook the potential healing benefits of social interaction.See it on page 5
05
Engagement types in these games are heterogeneous: Feedback functions primarily as cognitive guidance with affective reinforcement, while Challenge is predominantly cognitive and Control is almost exclusively behavioral.See it on page 5
06
Researchers recommend that future therapeutic game studies standardize reporting by documenting features at both the class and individual DP levels to reduce subjectivity and improve the transparency of game design architecture.See it on page 6

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Summary

A Blueprint for Unraveling Therapeutic Video Game Design Naïma Gradi Camille Carliez Shadee Thiam FPSE Université Lumière Lyon 2 FPSE University of Geneva Lyon, France University of Geneva Geneva, Switzerland FPSE Geneva, Switzerland Neuro @CampusBiotech University of Geneva Geneva School of Health Sc...

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