Serious Games for Autism Based on Immersive Virtual Reality: A Lens on Methodological and Technological Challenges

The use of Serious Games in the treatment of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders is nowadays considered promising, given the positive effects in promoting the acquisition of learning through motivating and engaging experiences. In particular, recent years have seen increased research attention toward serious games based on Immersive Virtual Reality technologies (i.e., large-scale projection-based systems, head-mounted displays). This is due to the benefits that the high level of immersion produces in learning outcomes: a high level of immersion eliminates environmental distractions and fosters attention on the learning tasks as well as coping with anxiety and social phobias. Unfortunately, the design and evaluation of these interventions are not without challenges and issues, given the difficulties in applying adequate and rigorous methodological design approaches. This paper presents a review of the available Serious Games for Autism based on Immersive Virtual Reality, developed between 2009 and mid-2021, selected and categorized with respect to target users' characteristics, learning purpose, and the adopted Immersive Virtual Reality technologies. The analysis mainly put a lens on technological aspects and on how these interventions were designed, as well as on the people involved in the design itself. Finally, some preliminary guidelines are delineated.