First Person Exposure therapy for acrophobia

Abstract: This thesis is focused on the development of games as a treatment for people who suffer from acrophobia, the fear of being in high-heighted situations. The purpose is to look over the immediate reactions of the players and study what effect first person gaming has on them in a short term. To achieve this, a series of three mini games is employed. Each game corresponds to a level. The first level is a tutorial which makes the player familiar with the game. In the second level, players are required to do a simple task. Finally, in the third level, the task is more pressuring and players need to be quicker to achieve the necessary goals. What is expected from this study is that the full control of the playable character makes the players feel immersed. Additionally, as the game progresses, the players will be more comfortable with heights. Last but not least, it is assumed that fast pace enhances immersion, a major factor of this study. As a result of our experiment, it is demonstrated that the control of the character from the player is a great tactic for immersion. Furthermore, it shows that the players start feeling better with heights even after one session. Finally, the study indicates that the fast pace enhances immersion, but over the time the increase of the pace has lower impact. These statements come as a result from the answers of the experiment‟s participants and will be shown in detail in this paper.