Ulrich Götz

Designing video games with therapeutic contents

Educated as an architect in Berlin and Barcelona, Ulrich Götz’ fascination with the creation of space gradually shifted from real to virtual environments. In 1999, he started his professional career as an architect and game designer. He soon began teaching. Since its inception in 2004, Götz has headed the Faculty of Game Design at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). The success of this program is underscored by the awards its graduates have received for the creation of innovative and surprising new types of video games. Besides teaching, Götz has been actively involved in research for, and design of so-called 'serious games' for use in therapeutical contexts.

He and his team collaborate on various serious games projects with staff of the University Children's Hospital in Zurich, the Institute for Neuroinformatics (a partnership between the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETHZ and the University of Zurich), the Motor Systems Lab at ETHZ, other public institutions, and private sector partners. One of his serious games helps children recovering from brain damage caused by accidents to regain their ability to walk.