Scientists believe that gaming could be used to positively enhance social skills in individuals who have difficulty communicating effectively. Computer games are therefore being developed to treat Autism-related communication disorders.

Despite the popular notion that gaming leads to impaired social skills and communication, scientists are now researching the prospects of technology that could prove beneficial for improving social and interpersonal skills.

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To help autistic individuals, who find it extremely challenging to interpret the expressions and body language of people, researchers are studying how games could be used to help them develop good social and interpersonal skills.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is currently funding a five-year project at the  Laboratory of Developmental Neuroscience at Penn State University to study the effect of a detective mystery game on a group of adolescents aged 10 to 18.

A fundamental aspect explored by the game is eye contact and facial expressions, which are two of the areas of communication that are often difficult for autistic individuals. To motivate autistic teens to understand non-verbal modes of communication, the detective mystery game tasks players to solve mysteries by understanding a complex storyline and following clues in the form of eye gaze and facial expressions.

Another such game Frankie and Friends being developed by researchers at the University of Western Australia, which depicts a sausage dog who needs help finding his friends. The game is given to children aged 5 to 12, and the players are expected to interpret facial expressions and follow eye gaze to play it successfully. After a certain period, the children are then observed in real-life situations using gaze following software to determine if the game has helped them to improve their social abilities.  

Earlier studies have demonstrated that optimum gaming boosts rather than hampers academic performance as well as social integration in children. Researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York demonstrated in a study that among school-going children aged 6 to 11 across Europe, those who spent a good amount of time playing video games demonstrated greater intellectual abilities and social skills. There was no hint that gaming had contributed to mental health problems in these children. 

As further research is conducted in the field, educational institutions and special needs schools are expected to make such games a part of their co-curricular curriculum to improve the social skills of their students and help them integrate better with their peers.