Université Lumière Lyon 2

A Blueprint for Unraveling Therapeutic Video Game Design

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...

• 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%).
• 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.
• 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.