Ophiophobia 3D – a Game for Treating Fear of Snakes
Eduard Valentin Toma, Oana Cristina Balan, Cristian Lambru, Alin Dragos Bogdan Moldoveanu, Florica Moldoveanu · 2020
Ophiophobia is defined as a pathological state of fear and unease caused by snakes. Taking into consideration the technological advancements made in the last few years, as well as the studies that have proven the efficiency of using virtual reality exposure therapy on patients who suffer from different types of phobias, we set out to develop a 3D environment that would come to the aid of those who suffer from ophiophobia. Therefore, we have created Ophiophobia3D, a game with 2 scenarios, where the player has to collect coins while avoiding or killing snakes that crawl and try to bite. The testing phase of the game was performed with the help of 9 participants who had low and medium levels of ophiophobia. At the end of a testing experiment, we noticed a drop in the fear level of those who explored the 3D environment.