The design of an immersive mobile virtual reality serious game in cardboard head-mounted display for pain management

Abstract

Researchers have proved immersive Virtual Reality (VR) to be an effective method and non-pharmacological analgesic for distracting acute pain and chronic pain, and for reducing anxiety levels. VR has been developed and deployed in pain management contexts in medical settings for dental and medical procedures, as well to manage cancer and burn pain. Often, what patients are distracted by can typically be described as immersive VR games. Although this is promising, and although the cost of VR has dramatically fallen in the past few years, most VR systems are still comparatively expensive in terms of accessibility for patients in their everyday contexts, such as at home or at work. For most patients — especially chronic pain patients — it is important that pain-related VR is accessible when it is needed, or “just” needed. However, the so-called Cardboard VR is affordable enough for everyday use. It provides a low-cost stereoscopic display that patients attached to smartphones. Therefore, a mobile VR game has been designed, developed and tested for this purpose. This paper describes the game design and game mechanics of Cryoblast, a mobile VR game for self-managing pain. We introduce the design of the gameplay and pain metaphors, and believe it will inspire more mobile VR games for healthcare.