Social MatchUP - a Memory-like Virtual Reality Game for the Enhancement of Social Skills in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

This paper presents Social MatchUP, a multiplayer Virtual Reality game for children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD). Shared virtual reality environments (SVREs) allow NDD children to interact in the same virtual space, but without the possible discomfort or fear caused by having a real person in front of them. Social MatchUP is a simple Concentration-like game, run on smartphones, where players should communicate to match up all the pairs of images they are given. Because every player can only interact with half of the pictures, but can see what his companion is doing, the game improves social and communication skills, and can be used also as a learning tool. A simple and easy-to-use customization tool was also developed to let therapists and teachers adapt the game context to the needs of the children they take care of.