Serious Games Design Principles Using Virtual Reality to Gamify Upper Limb Stroke Rehabilitation

Abstract

Stroke is a debilitating condition that impairs one's ability to live independently while also greatly decreasing one's quality of life. For these reasons, stroke rehabilitation is important. Engagement is a crucial part of rehabilitation, increasing a stroke survivor's recovery rate and the positive outcomes of their rehabilitation. For this reason, virtual reality (VR) has been widely used to gamify stroke rehabilitation to support engagement. Given that VR and the serious games that form its basis may not necessarily be engaging in themselves, ensuring that their design is engaging is important. This chapter discusses 39 principles that may be useful for engaging stroke survivors with VR-based rehabilitation post-stroke. This chapter then discusses a subset of the game design principles that are likely to engage stroke survivors with VR designed for upper limb rehabilitation post-stroke.