Jan Willem Huisman, founder and CEO of IJsfontein

Health games –or games with a focus on health, healthcare, and well-being– are interactive virtual worlds for playing, training, and learning, often as a form of simulation. They are used, for instance, to train for rehabilitation or prevention, to assess health conditions, and to teach facts and skills.

Using game elements such as posing challenges, giving feedback, offering different levels, and relations allows users to play, train, and learn in a safe environment.

This symposium, which was organised by the Utrecht Research Focus Area Game Research, brought together experts in the fields of game design and development, psychology, neuroscience, physiotherapy, and data and computer science. The program featured talks from game researchers, developers, companies, and medical experts. A demo market offered a range of live game demos.