PhobeeVR – Design and Development of a Virtual Reality Serious Game for People with Phobias

Specific phobias are marked by intense fear towards particular stimuli, but individuals often avoid seeking psychological assistance. Aligned with the widely adopted treatment of exposure therapy, this research explores the potential of virtual reality (VR) games as an engaging treatment environment for specific phobias. Through an online questionnaire survey, a focus group involving six individuals with diverse phobias, and a literature review, we identified crucial interaction and communication features necessary for a VR game tailored to individuals with an intense fear of bees, known as apiphobia. Utilizing these insights, we designed and developed an exploratory game prototype — PhobeeVR. Early usability testing involving nine participants revealed both promising features and areas for improvement, the latter particularly in usability and user experience, such as refining button identification, clarifying level sequencing, and enhancing feedback on level completion. This initial testing phase proved valuable to identify current challenges in the prototype and collect recommendations for future design and development iterations. Furthermore, the main contributions lie in the design principles established and the communication of the design and development of the game prototype consisting of innovative approaches.