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Gaming for Earth: Serious games and gamification to engage consumers in pro-environmental behaviours for energy efficiency
Abstract
Serious games and gamification to engage consumers in pro-environmental behaviours for energy efficiency are in their infancy. To date, despite growing interest and some initial attempts, their potential to engage consumers in energy efficiency behaviours has been understudied. To provide an overview of serious games and gamification to engage individuals in pro-environmental behaviours for energy efficiency, a computer-based search for relevant publications was performed in several databases. After applying the inclusion criteria and removing duplicates, 10 papers were included in this systematic review. Results showed that serious games and gamification have been used in three different areas related to energy efficiency: environmental education, consumption awareness, and pro-environmental behaviours. This review also showed that applied gaming interventions can be used in more than one of these three areas (comprehensive interventions). The main observation to be drawn from this review is that both serious games and gamification can foster energy-saving behaviours and vary widely in terms of type of games and of features that might be appealing and motivating.
... Third, the artifact should use the potential of AR simulations to convince users of the benefits of pro-environmental behavior. The artifact could include interactive gamification elements (Oppong-Tawiah et al., 2018;Morganti et al., 2017) to make the path to environmental sustainability fun and engaging. However, since AR is still in its infancy, communicators should be aware of potential unfamiliarity with the technology. ...
... Although three-dimensional and animated, passive viewing of the content of AR may not have been compelling enough, especially for experienced AR users. Perhaps a more engaging, interactive, and gamified (Morganti et al., 2017) approach could yield better results. In summary, we found no evidence that the green AR artifact created for this study generally impacts PEB. ...
... As suggested by our interviewees, and in line with recent research, gamification -the use of game design elements in non-game contexts (Deterding, 2015) -can be an effective weapon to promote PEB (Oppong-Tawiah et al., 2018;Hoffmann & Pfeiffer, 2022). A gamified intervention does not have to consist of a full game experience, but can simply include game elements (Morganti et al., 2017). Therefore, an immersive system does not have to be a game itself, but should include some of the gamified elements (e.g., getting points as a reward for a certain behavior). ...
Our society is facing a global environmental pollution crisis. Eight million tons of plastic are thrown into the sea each year, and human activities on land – excessive consumption, throwaway culture, and improper waste disposal - are the biggest contributors to it. As with many other environmental problems, plastic pollution is often ‘out of our sight’ and therefore perceived as an irrelevant and distant issue, which makes traditional communication tools ineffective in bringing about much-needed behavioral changes.
However, ongoing advances in digital technologies offer innovative ways to present information that open up new opportunities to promote pro-environmental behavior (PEB). For example, augmented reality (AR), a system that superimposes three-dimensional digital objects on the real world in real time, could be used to vividly simulate direct experiences with environmental threats. Recently, environmental communicators have begun to use AR to enhance their communication efforts, but scientific research in this area is still in its infancy. My objective is to address this gap and investigate the potential of AR in promoting individuals’ PEB.
More specifically, this thesis seeks to answer two research questions: (1) How can a green AR artifact for promoting pro-environmental behavior be designed, evaluated, and implemented in practice? (2) Is the green AR artifact able to reduce psychological distance and motivate individuals to adopt pro-environmental behavior? We used Design Science to design an artifact that illustrates the consequences of plastic pollution on marine fauna through AR experiences, and then ‘borrowed’ methods from Behavioral Science to test the artifact’s utility. The mixed-methods approach – a combination of qualitative (focus groups and interviews) and quantitative (experiment) techniques – generated new Green Information Systems (Green IS) knowledge: we provided evidence of effectiveness of AR in promoting PEB, defined design principles for green AR artifacts, suggested possible ideas for project extension, and proposed guidelines for effective implementation of such artifacts in practice.
The results suggest that AR simulations of environmental issues have the potential to enhance environmental communication, but only under certain conditions. More precisely, the effectiveness of green AR artifacts may depend on: (1) the visual fidelity and content of AR experiences, (2) the interactive nature of the artifact, (3) the social interactions that may result from using the artifact, (4) personal characteristics of users, and finally (5) potential contextual barriers that may distract individuals in adopting PEB. In summary, the results point to the need for personalized pro-environmental interventions that take into account the heterogeneity of target audience.
This thesis has contributions at both theoretical and practical levels. On the one hand, it informs researchers, particularly the Green IS community, about efficacy and design of green AR artifacts. On the other hand, it helps practitioners in the field of environmental communication, such as policymakers, nonprofit organizations, and other stakeholders, in their efforts to promote PEB. The lessons learned in this project could also be used for designing artifacts with a similar purpose (e.g., for enhancing risk perception of future negative outcomes that are ‘out of sight’).
... Several reviews have been conducted, concerning specifically games for engagement in climate science, mitigation, or adaptation (Fernández Galeote et al., 2021;Flood et al., 2018), natural resource management (Rodela et al., 2019), disaster-risk management (Solinska-Nowak et al. 2018), water systems planning (Savic et al., 2016), and adaptive governance solutions at the community-policy interface (Edwards et al., 2019). How games are used in sustainability education (Hallinger et al., 2020) and their learning outcomes in facilitating sustainability transitions, development policies and practices (den Haan & van der Voort, 2018;Stanitsas et al., 2019), or pro-environmental behaviors (Morganti et al., 2017) have also been reviewed. ...
... Within the interventional purpose, games could make ES knowledge actionable (Brunet et al., 2018), being advantageous for engaging less represented groups and creating an informal exchange arena among environmental and planning stakeholders (Bonté et al., 2019;Brunet et al., 2018;Constantinescu & Devisch, 2020;Edwards et al., 2019;Falk et al., 2019;Gissi & Garramone, 2018;Koens et al., 2020;Lennon et al., 2016;Nieto-Lugilde et al., 2019;Marlow, 2012;Solinska-Nowak et al., 2018). Interventional games allow stakeholders to evaluate decisions in repeated trials and deliberate with no real-life consequences (Celio et al., 2019;Constantinescu & Devisch, 2020;Costanza et al., 2014;Magnuszewski et al., 2019;Meya & Eisenack, 2018;Morganti et al., 2017). Finally, scholars noted the high potential of using games for research and large-scale data collection through crowdsourcing, citizen science (Costanza et al., 2014;Olejniczak et al., 2020), and giving students an active role in field studies (Argo et al., 2016). ...
... Finally, scholars noted the high potential of using games for research and large-scale data collection through crowdsourcing, citizen science (Costanza et al., 2014;Olejniczak et al., 2020), and giving students an active role in field studies (Argo et al., 2016). Data collection capability can be enhanced in digital games through wider internet access (offering superior access to data and possibility for engaging larger numbers of users, see Hallinger et al., 2020;Morganti et al., 2017); better data collected could inform better 'models' for an improved consideration of ES in urban planning. ...
We compiled a database of games relevant to NbS and urban planning. • From a focused literature review, we elaborated a conceptual framework for game assessment. • We assessed the high-relevance games concerning incorporated NbS and urban planning concepts, their scope, and practice. • The database helps educators, practitioners and researchers select the most suitable games. • We discuss the use of games as tools to link ecosystem services/NbS and urban planning practice. A R T I C L E I N F O Keywords: Ecosystem services Nature-based solutions Urban planning Urban design Game-based approaches Gaming A B S T R A C T Adopting nature-based solutions (NbS) in urban planning is not mainstream due to insufficient knowledge or incentives for implementation. Game-based approaches may increase NbS adoption by educating urban stake-holders and engaging them in the planning process. Here, we develop a conceptual framework for assessing various games' main purpose (educational, interventional, or for research) and how they capture important concepts of NbS and urban planning, including promoted nature values (intrinsic, instrumental, or relational), types of capital, and spatio-temporal scale. Next, we compile a database of 69 'Urban Nature Games', including 22 of 'high relevance' to urban planning and NbS based on our analysis. Most games were educational, addressed city or regional scales, and promoted instrumental nature values. Our database and mapping of the high-relevance games against urban planning processes and NbS types help educators, practitioners, and researchers select the most suitable games according to their needs. This research lays the groundwork for a consolidated assessment of Urban Nature Games' relevance, scope, and practice.
... Gamification is defined as "use of game design elements in non-game contexts" (Deterding et al., 2011), and is grouped in a variety of ways with a specific intention to use game mechanisms or elements in other environments. Potentially containing gamification elements including reward, challenge, mission, feedback, competition, cooperation, and others, gamification engagement does not necessarily require a complete gaming experience (Morganti et al., 2017). Gamification does not specify the requirements and conditions of "non-game contexts" (Huber & Hilty, 2015). ...
... Through a preliminary search on the keywords of "gamification" and "proenvironmental behavior", all eligible articles were found to be published after 2015. Morganti et al. (2017) also indicated in a previous article that there is a scarcity of earlier studies since research in related fields is still in its infancy. The time of searching the electronic databases for the present study was September 2021, and thus, articles published before that date were included. ...
... The mention frequency in the articles shows the importance of the reward element in promoting PEB. Moreover, feedback, competition, and challenge were often mentioned in the same article (Cwil & Bartnik, 2018;Negruşa et al., 2015;Helmefalk & Rosenlund, 2019;Helmefalk & Rosenlund, 2020;Méndez et al., 2021;Méndez et al., 2020;Ponce et al., 2020;Wee & Choong, 2019;Morganti et al., 2017), being used to collaborate and jointly enhance intrinsic motivation on PEB (Wee & Choong, 2019). Said elements were often applied in conjunction with the selfdetermination theory (SDT) (Cwil & Bartnik, 2018;Wee & Choong, 2019) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Méndez et al., 2021;Méndez et al., 2020). ...
Although games provide a certain degree of entertainment, gamification is subtly affecting the behavior of users. Teaching the public to practice pro-environmental behavior (PEB) through gamification has gained an increasing amount of attention and concern in academic circles. As a relatively new research field, a systematic literature review (SLR) on gamification as a learning tool for PEB was conducted using articles with the publication date of 2007 to the present. By reviewing 56 articles from the Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar databases, the following findings were made: (1) gamification elements mainly represented by reward, feedback, competition, points, goal, leaderboards, challenge, meaning are the PEB learning tools that authors displayed most concern with; (2) improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emission were the most commonly learned PEBs via gamification; and (3) the self-determination theory, the goal framing theory, the theory of planned behavior and the Octalysis framework were the most commonly applied theories in the research field of gamification and PEB.
... Games aimed at environmental education are considered "serious games", designed to go beyond simple entertainment and offer multiple learning opportunities. Through rules, goals, rewards, and the way they encourage divergent thinking, they promote learning and are considered appropriate for the adolescent and young adult populations [3,4]. Similarly, apps designed for formal and informal environmental education promote awareness of climate change as well as change in pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. ...
... The attempts to combine the use of video games and pro-environmentalism are relatively numerous [16]. The United Nations (through the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development or the United Nations Environment Program) has recommended that some of the most popular video games (Angry Birds 2, Golf Clash, and Subway Surfers) should include pro-environmental messages [3,17]. Today's young generation, unlike previous generations, has benefited from consistent pro-environmental education [18]. ...
... As some researchers argue [31,32], not all contexts are appropriate for gamification, but formal and informal educational settings are certainly susceptible to gamified designs. Furthermore, gamification has some important strengths in supporting environmental education, such as allowing the users of games and apps to simulate complex scenarios that would be rather costly and challenging in real life-situations [33], and showing promising positive effects on pro-environmental behaviors or behavioral intentions [3]. ...
As the issues related to climate change intensify, new methods to raise awareness of environmental issues, foster pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, and offer a viable alternative to traditional environmental education are needed. In recent years, various computer games and mobile apps targeting sustainability-related information, attitude, and behaviors have been developed. In this systematic review, we aimed to verify which pro-environmental information, attitudes, and behaviors are targeted by serious games and gamified apps, how their efficiency is tested, and the main results. A total of 29 studies were included in the analysis. The results show that serious games and apps were used to decrease energy consumption, water spending, and food consumption, and increase sustainable mobility. Furthermore, technology was used to offer pro-environmental education regarding a myriad of issues. Most interventions were successful and some of them did have significant effects while others provided only short-term changes. The limitations of the current approaches are discussed together with some future expansions that can help develop more efficiency in this domain.
... Game elements ''vary widely in terms of the type of games, target, and features that might be appealing and motivating'' (AlSkaif et al., 2018, p.101). Morganti et al. (2017) and AlSkaif et al. (2018) classified a rewarding system as a game element. These elements include credit points, which users can collect in an app through a desired behavior. ...
... H5: Environmental feedback leads to a higher flexibility provision. Third, badges are a gamification element (AlSkaif et al., 2018) and should have their typical functions: to appeal, motivate, and include users (Morganti et al., 2017). This engagement is necessary as Lagomarsino et al. (2022, p.11) have pointed out that ''a mere automatization of smart charging choices without user integration is likely to fail, and decrease[s] the acceptance of the technology''. ...
The growing adoption of Electric vehicles (EVs) puts pressure on the power grid, and implementing smart solutions can ease this pressure. Smart charging at home is a solution where users offer flexibility in their charging schedule, which energy suppliers and/or other aggregators can exploit by charging during times of low demand and low market prices. However, giving charging control to the energy provider can concern EV users, particularly about driving range, and give a sense of loss of control. We conducted an experimental online survey with EV users (n = 289), examining the effect and perception of different behavioral interventions to improve flexibility provision. We found that all monetary incentives (high, low, credit points) resulted in higher flexibility, while environmental framing, feedback and badges, default-setting, and battery-related tips had no effect. The perception of all behavioral interventions did not correlate significantly with the flexibility offered for any of the interventions.
... Sidiropoulos (2018) highlighted that student sustainability perspectives can be influenced by educational or personal factors. Recently, with the development of technology and digitization, researchers have become interested in game-based approaches, such as serious games or gamification that aim to educate or motivate people to act in environmentally friendly ways (Morganti et al., 2017). Other research highlighted the essential role of environmental education in encouraging students to engage in PEB (Sanchez-Carracedo et al., 2021). ...
... Although novel in terms of the intervention, used variables and measurement of PEB, this study's approach is not singular and the current results support previous findings. Prior experimental studies investigated several gamification approaches that can potentially increase specific PEBs and found that game attributes with motivational elements encourage specific environmental conservation actions (Morganti et al., 2017;Ouariachi et al., 2020). There are several key findings of the present research. ...
Purpose
Pro-environmental education incorporates digital technologies to enhance the level of pro-environmental behaviours (PEB) in young adults. Guided by gamified learning and self-directed informal learning theories, this study aims to examine the potential for the use of a gamified mobile app to increase students’ PEB. Also, it explores whether various pre-existing environmental attitudes and beliefs can moderate the effects.
Design/methodology/approach
This quasi-experimental study proposed an eight-weeks intervention for undergraduate students based on using a mobile app. The authors evaluated the post-intervention differences in PEB between the intervention group and a control group. The effects of multiple moderators were also tested.
Findings
Using the mobile app for eight weeks significantly improves the levels of PEB in the intervention group compared to the control group. None of the proposed interactions showed significant moderator effects.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first one to verify the potential moderators accounting for the success of an environmental education approach using a mobile app. Also, it provides strong empirical support for the use of such educational strategy. Based on these findings, the authors suggest the use of gamified mobile apps as suitable tools for pro-environmental education, especially when targeting young adult or student populations. Moreover, using mobile apps providing self-directed informal learning, combined with gamification, can be used to enhance other desirable behaviours.
... In-home display (IHD) [23][24][25][26] Spatial Mapping [27][28][29][30][31] Thermal Imaging [32] Digital energy platform (DEP) [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] Gamification [17,[42][43][44][45][46][47] Digital voice assistant [14,48,49] Energy management system [50][51][52] Energies 2023, 16, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 25 how valuable and usable SLEETs are in supporting users to become active participants in managing and controlling energy. It looks at how they become active participants in the energy market, and how to ensure SLEETs are deployed in a socially responsible manner. ...
... Interaction SLEETs Control SLEETs In-home display (IHD) [23][24][25][26] Spatial Mapping [27][28][29][30][31] Thermal Imaging [32] Digital energy platform (DEP) [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] Gamification [17,[42][43][44][45][46][47] Digital voice assistant [14,48,49] Energy management system [50][51][52] 2.1.1. Information-Driven ...
Deploying smart local energy engagement tools (SLEETs) in local energy projects enables users to better observe and control energy, and potentially become active participants in local energy management. Using a cross-project approach, this paper examines the prevalence, effectiveness and inclusiveness of 84 SLEETs deployed in 72 local energy projects in the UK from 2008 to 2018. An original framework for the characterisation of SLEETs was employed, which grouped them into seven types and characterised them in terms of their level of interaction and interface design. Our study shows that information-driven tools were the most popular in community energy groups, while digital energy platforms or interaction tools with numeric interfaces were the most popular in smart local energy system (SLES) initiatives. In contrast, interaction tools with visual interfaces, and tools offering control were found to be less popular. Spatial analysis revealed that SLEETs were mostly deployed in areas with grid constraints (technology), active community energy groups (people) and engaged local authorities (policy). Effective SLEETs were found to stimulate engagement amongst people (social engagement), and between people and technology (operation and control), while inclusive SLEETs enabled the inclusion of vulnerable and low-income households. The acceptance and implementation of SLES initiatives can be enhanced by creating effective and inclusive SLEETs that align with local users’ requirements and are supported by local stakeholders in order to foster trust. In future, there is a need to develop appropriate metrics (key performance indicator) or scoring methods to measure the prevalence, effectiveness, and inclusiveness of SLEETs in a consistent manner.
... In the last several years, serious games and gamification strategies have been used in the field of education, with its competitiveness being seen as highly motivating for educating, training and motivating younger people [1,2]. In what concerns games, and specifically in the field of environmental and biodiversity preservation education, games emerge as an innovative approach to raise environmental awareness among youths [3], namely by engaging students in the development of their own games for environmental awareness learning [4,5]. ...
... The potential of digital games in enhancing motivation for learning, as well as its relevance in the educational field, has been recognized a few years to this part [12][13][14]. Nevertheless, the discussion on the negative and positive impacts of computer games persists [2,15], games are for long seen as a way to present learning activities in significant contexts controlled by the learner, thus having the potential to trigger curiosity and interest towards the educational subject [16,17]. ...
In recent years, serious games and gamification strategies have been used in the education field and seen as highly motivating for educating and motivating younger people. As regard to games, and in the field of environmental education, they emerge as an innovative approach to raise environmental awareness among youths, namely by challenging students to develop their own games for learning. When research also mentions obstacles in involving students to explore educational contents through game design, this paper presents the Gamers4Nature Toolkit, an artifact developed to support the creation of digital environmental-related games by younger students with no experience in game design. The toolkit was used by 53 upper-secondary and 114 undergraduate students along several game creation sessions, leading to the development of 66 digital games. Findings indicate that the Toolkit was considered an engaging approach to game creation, making it a valuable resource to support educators in game design activities.
... Consumers can be engaged towards a more sustainable lifestyle (i.e. incentivize energy savings) by gamification (Morganti et al., 2017;AlSkaif et al., 2018;Wee and Choong, 2019). As researching such a real-life impact is difficult, storyboards with actual designs for prototypes can help to show how perceived persuasion of persuasive strategies are related to different user types (Böckle, Novak and Bick, 2020). ...
... This whole study is conducted with actual customers of a Dutch energy supplier. The focus in this study is part of a bigger whole, earlier on we already investigated to what user type these customers belong (van der Neut, van Delden and Spil, 2022), in our current study we obtain first insights into the possibilities of personalized gamification for green energy suppliers, fitting the following research question: ...
Dutch energy suppliers are obliged to cooperate in reducing consumption by stimulating energy saving behaviours among their customers. One important strategy for this context is personalized gamification. We investigate how a personalized gamified energy saving application can be designed based on individual preferences within the context of an energy supplier. To design a personalized gamification application the proposed method of Knutas et al. was adapted by leaving out the parts about machine learning and adding an evaluation phase. We show that customization by users can be a valuable alternative for using machine learning personalization strategies. We used this iterative design process to focus on personalizing, in this use case for the three main user types of the customer base of a Dutch energy supplier. The design of the gamified application was adapted using feedback of both stakeholders and customers using interviews and focus groups. This resulted in two final designs designed to stimulate energy saving behaviour among customers. The design had a dashboard which allowed for personalization within gamified elements, and an energy editor in which users can change characteristics in their households to learn about the effects of actions on their energy consumption. These two final designs were validated using an interactive prototype along with interviews. The added value of this study is that it shows that the Hexad framework with its proposed gamification user types is suitable to understand the main motivations of a target group. Results suggest that designing within gamified mechanics based on a user type’s main motivation is an effective strategy for personalization. Motivation-based design is not the only successful personalization design strategy but adapting designs to personal situation and existing energy saving behaviour might also motivate users.
... Still, in practice, current smart charging applications use numerous gamification elements (e.g., ev.energy, 2020). With regard to energy-saving behavior, studies find a positive effect of gamification elements (Chatzigeorgiou and Andreou, 2021;Johnson et al., 2017;Morganti et al., 2017). Gamification elements (e.g., personalized goals, feedback, social comparison, prizes, lottery) can enhance energy saving behavior and eco-driving (Günther et al., 2020;Ming et al., 2020). ...
... Selected papers in step 1:Antunes et al., 2018;Delmonte et al., 2020;Geske, 2014;Handke et al., 2012;Huber et al., 2019a;Huber et al., 2019b;Huber & Weinhardt, 2018;Jochem et al., 2012;Paetz et al., 2012b;Schmalfuß et al., 2015;Tamis et al., 2018;Will & Schuller, 2016. 2 Selected papers in step 2:Alasseri et al., 2020;Allcott & Rogers, 2014;Azarova et al., 2020;Broman Toft et al., 2014;Buckley, 2020;Chatzigeorgiou & Andreou, 2021;Delmas et al., 2013;Dütschke et al., 2013;Frenzel et al., 2015;Günther et al., 2020;Horne & Kennedy, 2017;Ito et al., 2018;Johnson et al., 2017;Ming et al., 2020;Momsen & Stoerk, 2014;Morganti et al., 2017;Paetz et al., 2012a;Paetz et al., 2012c;Schaule & Meinzer, 2020;Soomro et al., 2021;Spandagos et al., 2021;Tiefenbeck et al., 2019;Vetter & Kutzner, 2016. ...
Electric vehicles (EVs) are an important cornerstone to achieve transport decarbonization. Still, simultaneous charging of EVs when home charging increases peak demand, especially during evenings. Smart charging allows optimal distribution of load, thus preventing peak loads. Nevertheless, this incorporates certain risks for the EV user, e.g., unavailability of EVs for unplanned events. This might lead to a lack of user acceptance. This paper focuses on specific incentives and nudges, motivating users to adopt smart charging. We conducted an integrative literature review, bringing together literature from different areas. Possible incentives and nudges are monetary incentives, feedback, gamification, or smart charging as a default-setting. We conducted three focus groups with 13 EV users in Luxembourg to get first insights into which of those incentives and nudges they prefer. Preliminary results indicate that incentives and nudges should be individualized. In the future, we would use these first insights to develop a large-scale survey.
... There is also clearly some overlap between participatory approaches and other behaviour change interventions. For example focus groups, training sessions and public meetings [37] or gamification e.g., [38] may aim to tap into social norms to encourage pro-environmental behaviour, provide information, or build a sense of community, but may also result in non-instrumental outcomes e.g., increased empowerment, or social learning. However, behaviour change interventions tend to have an instrumental rationale, (i.e., agenda) e.g., for promoting buy-in or acceptance of energy projects or some other desirable behaviour, whereas participatory interventions may have one or more rationales, i.e., instrumental (e.g., increase the social acceptability of projects, reduce conflict or increase legitimacy of decision-making), substantive (i.e., participation can improve the quality of decisions, by e.g., incorporating local knowledge or concerns) or normative (e.g.,: normative ideals such as democracy or inclusion of the least powerful) [39]. ...
... Gamification may combine several interventions together such as information provision, goal-setting, social comparison or trust building [35]. Gamification interventions have been used to promote pro-environmental behaviours in various sectors, including environmental education, consumption awareness and energy efficiency behaviours [38]. Reviews of gamification in energy conservation projects, for example, show that it may provide benefits such as motivation and learning, increased awareness or increasing pro-environmental attitudes [35]. ...
Transitioning to a low-carbon economy requires profound changes in the energy system, including digitisation and decentralisation. Collective action energy projects are a promising means of supporting this transformation since they redistribute control of energy resources to the citizens and foster sustainable energy behaviours, as well as potentially enhancing energy justice and democracy. The EU has funded a number of collective action energy R&I projects which combine the use of new technologies and community engagement. We identify 28 such projects and investigate the types of community engagement strategies trialed and the challenges they face. We find that engagement strategies comprise a mixture of shorter term participation and longer term behaviour change strategies. There is a tendency towards behaviour change strategies based on feedback and/or rewards, while other promising strategies like targeting group norms are less common. Overall, projects opt for medium-level participation, while co-creative or more empowering approaches are less common. A lack of consistency in approach and a lack of reported data on social impacts of the projects makes it difficult to determine how effective the engagement strategies (and hence projects themselves) have been. We provide some recommendations for designing and monitoring similar research projects going forward.
... Following the legal response, the importance has been raised to address the issue of the climate crisis even further, especially in the field of public education. Researchers found evidence that serious games in the area of energy consumption, conservation and efficiency are motivating, as they can improve the domain knowledge and even positively influence the users towards a pro-environmental behaviour [7,16]. This paper, therefore, describes the conception and implementation of a serious game, through which the topic of renewable energies and their relevance for climate neutrality is to be communicated. ...
... The games differ greatly in their sustainability subthemes, target groups and goals, as well as in their type and the technology used [20]. The majority of serious games in the field of the energy transition are in the domain of domestic energy consumption and the pro-environmental behaviour for energy efficiency [7,16]. Few publications deal simultaneously with the planning and decision-making on renewable energy sources (e.g. ...
The energy transition in Germany is planned to take place by 2045. It includes the complete abandonment of fossil and nuclear energy sources, a nationwide expansion of renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind and hydropower as well as the reduction of energy consumption. Those measurements will contribute significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Our work aims to give citizens an intuitive insight into the energy transition and provide a better understanding through visualization and playful, realistic interaction.
In this paper, the concept of an educational game for citizens is explained, in which the topic of renewable energies is to be conveyed to them playfully. Particular attention is paid to the calculations necessary for the game logic and the three-dimensional interactive visualization. The 3D environment and the application logic is developed with the virtual reality engine PolyVR and ported for its experience within a web browser. The implementation of this work focuses on wind power and the German province Baden-Württemberg but can be extended analogously for other forms of renewable energies to fully depict the energy transition in Germany.
KeywordsVitual realitySerious game3D web game3D simulationGreen gamesEnvironmental gamesPublic engagementEnergy transitionClimate changeClimate goalsRenewable energy sources
... The model showed great pedagogical potential in educating and improving citizens' comprehension of the sustainability problem like waste accumulation, waste disposal opportunities, wastewater, human pollution, energy consumption, etc., as well as anthropogenic effects on the environment (Aguiar-Castillo et al., 2019;Bifulco et al., 2011;Capellán-Pérez et al., 2019;Destyanto et al., 2019;Devisch, 2008;Fernández Galeote and Hamari, 2021;Fleming et al., 2020;Hellweger, 2007;Laksmi and Ardi, 2020;Lidia et al., 2018;Massoud et al., 2021;Mondejar et al., 2021;Mylonas et al., 2021;Ouariachi, 2021;Poplin, 2014;Roy et al., 2021;Theethum et al., 2021;Undorf et al., 2020;Vasuthanasub et al., 2019). In such serious games, participants are tasked with designing and responding to virtual waste management scenarios (i.e., through defining recycling routes, editing mobility, air quality, wastewater management, selecting a different circular economy strategy, etc.) (D'Adamo, 2019;D'Adamo and Lupi, 2021;Helmefalk and Rosenlund, 2020;Likotiko et al., 2017;Loizia et al., 2019;Morganti et al., 2017;Nitti et al., 2017;Salim et al., 2021;Titiu, 2019;Wu and Huang, 2015) to mitigate climate change through strategic planning, resulting in better understanding of the complexity and challenge of waste management. Key factors in such games' success is their wide usability, allowing non-experts to achieve their educational potential (Capellán-Pérez et al., 2019). ...
... Waste management simulation games provide a more realistic and tangible approach to promote pro-environmental behavior, as well as to engage stakeholders in the great environmental debates that society faces (Aguiar-Castillo et al., 2019;Capellán-Pérez et al., 2019;Douglas and Brauer, 2021;Hellweger, 2007;Lidia et al., 2018;Madani et al., 2017;Morganti et al., 2017;Papadopoulos et al., 2007;Salim et al., 2021;Titiu, 2019). On such franchise is SimCity (Arnold et al., 2019), released in 1989 and updated to include more realistic waste management and city management techniques. ...
A gamification approach for tackling waste management planning and urban development provide a more engaging and interactive experience with high pedagogical potential. Existing serious games involving waste management are complex in their data ingestion, use, and presentation, limiting individuals' opportunities to gain knowledge and decision-making skills transferrable to the real world. Simulations, by comparison, provide either an oversimplified and unrealistic user interface or explore in depth individual rather than aggregate key performance indicators for waste management, limiting potential knowledge retention. There is a clear opportunity in creating an informative, easy-to-use simulation-based game to help stakeholders build understanding of waste management policies, performance, and causal relationships. This gamified tool provides clear feedback through quick-visibility performance indicators (i.e., waste accumulation index, waste compositional analysis, prevention activities etc.) and offers the opportunity, through multi-criteria decision making, of simulating real-life scenarios and previewing the possible outcomes of certain in-game actions. The research question is how the process of gamification might serve as powerful tool for educating decision makers. The results are considered as a reference point to any policy maker intending to assess environmental performance, proposed activities to reach Circular Economy targets, and European Green Deal and UN Sustainable Development Goals.
... These social channels are possible avenues targeted to stimulate the general conversation on EE. Serious Games have been developed to engage youth on environmental issues (Morganti et al., 2017). ...
Games on environmental education are classified as "serious games," meaning they are made with deeper purposes in mind than merely being entertaining, such as educational objectives. Goals, regulations, and fantasy elements in games not only increase player involvement but also have an impact on their education. Over 1.12 billion young (15 to 25 years) people live on this earth, constituting 16% of the world's population. Most of these students have access to or have been exposed to digital games. As a result, this systematic review paper used the philosophical perspective of serious game theory, guided by PRISMA principles, to analyze six serious games on environmental education. These games aim to educate young people about environmental issues. These interactive online games, among others, equip individuals with environmental values, attitudes, and skills to live sustainably. It was suggested, among other things, that there should be a tracker to monitor how students utilize these games to build environmental literacy and that, due to limited internet access, offline games would be the answer for students in Sub-Saharan Africa.
... The purpose of game design components, such as badges (Lee et al., 2016), leader boards, and points have become a recognized exercise all over society (Donnermann et al., 2021). Integration of corporate environmental responsibility and pro-environmental action into the gamified system or game design is an essential element of the gamification approach (Morganti et al., 2017). To enhance environmental performance, it is important to encourage pro-environmental and pro-social behaviour (Marculescu et al., 2020). ...
Background: Research suggests that gamification can increase work engagement by providing employees with a sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and by creating a fun and engaging work environment. Gamification is designed to increase consumer and employee engagement and see that they holistically collaborate to achieve a shared vision. The concept of gamification is as old as learning itself, just that the use of the terminology “Gamification” is of a recent origin.
Methods: This article focuses on the impact of gamification in various organizations and simultaneously sees its relationship with job engagement and productivity. A primary investigation was done to determine the nexus between the various variables and data collection from 400 respondents working in various fraternities of the economy from both public and private domains from countries in the Gulf region. The structural equation model and SPSS has been inferred to analyse the results.
Results: The study results show that variable such as perceived adoption and usefulness in the gamified system is significantly associated with job engagement. Similarly, employee’s recognition and perceived motivation have a positive impact on productivity. The study identified job engagement mediating factor to enhance organisational productivity in a gamified system.
Conclusion: The effectiveness of gamification in enhancing work engagement may depend on factors such as the design of the gamification system, the preferences and motivations of individual employees, and the organizational culture and goals. The findings have significant implications for insight into how employees in the service sector are aware of the gamified working environment and react to the system through work engagement and productivity.
... Following this logic, serious games need to be designed in such a way that they increase users' extrinsic and intrinsic motivation towards the goal of improving pro-environmental behaviours. As previous research shows, serious games can have a significant impact on fostering pro-environmental behaviours, such as proenvironmental behaviours for energy efficiency (Morganti et al., 2017;Ponce et al., 2020;Rai & Beck, 2017) and environmental cleaning (Fox et al., 2020), in the context of the circular economy (Khoury et al., 2023), or regarding pro-environmental behaviours at the workplace (Pinzone et al., 2019). ...
Games have become an integral part of our lives, which is why they are increasingly being used for other purposes than pure entertainment, such as learning, training, informing, or advertising. In information systems (IS) research, this type of game has also been discussed under the notion of serious games, which are aimed at engaging users to elicit behaviour change through motivation. In this study, the authors explore how serious games affect pro-environmental behaviours in the context of renewable energy. More specifically, the authors focus on extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and analyse the impact of users' motivation to use serious games on their attitude toward renewable energy, which is influenced by cognitive and affective beliefs.
... For instance, a strategy that can enhance consumer engagement in the energy service, such as gamification, is an important attribute. Recently, research has reported that gamification, which involves using game elements in non-game contexts to improve the user experience and user engagement, can increase consumer participation and effectively induce behavioral changes and energy efficiency improvements [44][45][46]. In the future, it is essential to examine the effects of such consumer engagement techniques on consumer choice. ...
Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is becoming increasingly popular as an efficient means of energy demand management. By collecting energy data through AMI, it is possible to provide users with information that can induce them to change their behavior. To ensure that AMI continues to expand and to encourage the use of energy data, it is important to increase consumer participation and analyze their preferred service attributes. This study utilized a choice experiment to analyze consumer preferences for and acceptance of smart energy services based on AMI data. The results of a mixed logit model estimation show that consumers prefer the electricity information service for individual households and the social safety-net service among convergence services. A scenario analysis confirms that monetary compensation to offset any additional charges is important to maintain the level of consumer acceptance. These empirical findings offer insights for policymakers and companies seeking to develop policies and similar services.
... Gamification includes various elements, such as collecting points and displaying scores and leaderboards, or rewarding trophies [77]. This method has proven to be effective in promoting ecodriving [78] as well as energy conservation [79]. Furthermore, individuals reported that gamification might be a helpful strategy to influence green smart charging behavior [26]. ...
... the long-term impacts of serious games (Hallinger et al., 2020;Madani et al., 2017;Stanitsas et al., 2019). Indeed, serious games have an immense potential of changing perceptions about environmental conservation and of increasing proenvironmental behaviours; these are the ultimate intended outcomes of environmental education (Morganti et al., 2017). Limitations of past studies aside, there is a need to consolidate the defining features of impactful serious games, to guide the creation of future serious games. ...
Serious games are increasingly popular in multiple fields, including education and environmental engagement. We conducted a systematic review to examine the reasons for this increasing popularity, the features of successful serious games and the current trend of serious games application in environmental education. Our systematic search revealed 56 records of papers (from years 2009 to 2023) on the use of serious games for environmental education. Thirty‐five were published in the recent 5 years reflecting a growing interest in this area. The games were aimed at imparting knowledge (N = 28), changing attitude (N = 28) and changing behaviour (N = 19). Reasons for the increased application of serious games include the raising awareness on serious games and growing investment in serious games development and research, as well as better technological access through mobile devices. Successful serious games exhibit the following features: an immersive experience, meaningful engagement, a learn‐by‐doing involvement, simulation of real‐world environmental problems, autonomy in game decisions and the presence of a guiding host. This review also revealed two categories of digital serious games: computer games (N = 14) and mobile apps (N = 11), and three categories of physical games: board games (N = 6), card game (N = 1) and role‐playing games (N = 2). The gaps include (1) the lack of in‐game experience data that limits our understanding of the impacts of commercial games, (2) variation in game experience and conservation experience among participants and how this translates to the impacts of serious games, and (3) lack of understanding of how the effects of serious games with high complexities on adults learning. Serious games are increasingly being digitised and moving towards location‐based games, alternate reality, augmented reality and virtual reality. These games can facilitate interaction between learners and the natural environment, and in turn strengthen environmental awareness and appreciation.
... Engagement is, therefore, also to be considered as a relevant factor in relationship to trust and acceptance building in the context of this work. A common tool for furthering engagement along the provision of feedback and benefit communication is gamification via different mechanisms including e.g., goal setting, challenges, competition and cooperation [65,66]. Gamification shows potential with regards to furthering desirable energy consumption behavior but lacks sufficient empirical evidence to date. ...
The energy transition requires increased end-user flexibility in consumption as a response to the more volatile production patterns of renewable resources. Automated demand-side management solutions can provide support in achieving this but struggle with trust and acceptance issues from end-users. This paper contributes insights into how communicating trustworthiness can be achieved through careful and context-aware interaction design in such systems. Core interface features such as feedback, automation transparency, control options, benefit information, and actionable information were identified and fifteen case studies from six countries were analysed with regard to provided interaction features, automation level, and end-user experiences. The results provide insights into the form and frequency of these features used at different automation levels and their varying role in trust and acceptance building. Based on our results, we recommend particular attention to providing actionable information and actively reaching out to users at a low automation level, to provision and communication of control at a medium automation level, and to providing transparency at a high automation level in order to promote trust successfully, while benefit information is central for a “social license to automate” independently of the automation level.
... Although various approaches were examined, most of them have preserved the principle of providing only core content in an unimaginative manner. On the other hand, without being restricted by the principle, some attempts were initiated to provide information through enjoyable quizzes and games [29,30] and present information in formats that are easy to understand intuitively through visualization [31]. However, few studies have analyzed the effects of such methods compared to those of conventional methods. ...
To build a sustainable society, the provision of information is very important. This study examines the different methods by which providing a narrative and logical information on climate change affects pro-environmental behavior. Narrative information is defined as expressions describing the process of someone experiencing an event, and logical information refers to straightforward representations composed of only central facts. According to the dual-process theory, these two formats of information seem to be processed in different ways: the former is processed automatically and intuitively, and the latter is processed deliberatively and logically. This study aims to reveal the potential of narrative information to encourage behavioral intentions and policy acceptance in energy and environmental fields. In an experiment conducted via the internet, participants either read the narrative or logical information on climate change and completed the questionnaires before and after reading. The results indicate that narrative evokes stronger emotions, such as anxiety and fear, and leads to higher behavioral intentions and policy acceptance of climate change than logical information. They further infer that this tendency is more pronounced when the participants tend to be absorbed into narratives or have little interest in climate change. Our results suggest that the narrative approach can be effective for providing information on energy and environmental issues.
... Through serious games individuals can explore the impacts of their actions within a simulated environment, removed from real-life consequences [10]. Both simulation-oriented and education-oriented serious games have been effectively used to support energy-related goals, including consumption awareness, education and pro-environmental behaviour [11]. Importantly, serious games have been found to support user engagement [12] and facilitate discussion [13] due to increased emotional involvement [10], and a focus on learning through fun. ...
Public engagement remains a challenge within energy behaviour change interventions, and serious games appear a promising mechanism to mitigate this. While social factors are commonly employed within such serious games, analysis of their specific impact is outstanding. This paper seeks to examine the social aspects of serious games and explore how they may be leveraged to support and incentivise energy related behaviour change. To demonstrate how social strategies may be used within a serious game to increase impact, the EVIDENT project is presented as a case study. Analysis of the literature suggests positive effects of social strategies within serious games, with peer comparison, collaboration, and competition commonly employed. However, as serious games often include multiple behaviour change strategies, both social and non-social, componential analysis is needed to determine the relative impacts of different approaches. As such, several social factors will be applied within the EVIDENT serious game including 1) stakeholder inclusion in design, 2) shared learning through social groups, 3) social inclusion, 4) social considerations to support maintenance of effects, and 5) social comparison. While positive effects for social factors within serious games are clear, this paper argues that additional analyses of how they may be best applied within serious games is needed.
... By exploring gaming strategies as a measure to increase user use, we have shown that environmentally sustainable designs for platform companies are not limited to environmental education and appeal [63,64]. User engagement can be increased by integrating effective gamification elements [19,23,[25][26][27]47,48,61,65,66]. ...
Mobile applications can integrate games or gamification elements to build a game metaverse, thus increasing use duration. Research on game metaverses is relatively scarce, mainly focusing on the positive effects of game elements. Few studies have considered the push-away power of game or gamification elements. In this paper, we explore the role of pro-environmental cues in mitigating the push-away power of game or gamification elements from the perspective of the adverse effects of game elements. A total of 250 participants were recruited to engage in two two-factor between-subject studies. Study 1 demonstrated that pro-environmental cues increased self-consciousness during the game and mitigated adverse outcomes after the game. The results of Study 2 further supported the findings of Study 1. The results showed that the perception of pleasure during the game reduced the effects of pro-environmental cues. The pro-environmental cues mitigated adverse outcomes after the game experience when perceiving lower or moderate enjoyment. In comparison, the effects of pro-environmental cues on mitigating negative consequences after the game experience were insignificant when experiencing higher enjoyment.
... Because people like to play and compare (Hsu & Lu, 2004), numerous studies used the concept of gamification in various behavioral fields such as education (Christy & Fox, 2014;Hamari et al., 2016), health (Hamari & Koivisto, 2015), and pro-environmental behavior (Ke et al., 2019;Morganti et al., 2017;Ro et al., 2017;Vaezipour et al., 2016). Gamification is defined as the "use of game design elements in non-game contexts" (Deterding et al., 2011, p. 9). ...
The sale of electric vehicles (EVs) is steadily increasing, leading to a huge demand of electricity, which needs to be produced CO2-neutral to make EVs a green alternative. To address this issue, smart charging shifts the charging process to optimal day/night times when (green) energy is available. Especially when charging in public, smart charging may produce external behavioral costs (e.g., charging delays) that should be offset by individual and highlighted environmental benefits. We examined the interactive influence of contextual factors (i.e., charging delay, walking distance, price saving) and behavioral interventions (i.e., framing, social norm, gamification) on green smart charging decisions in an online experiment (N = 286). The results showed that the interventions influenced the decision to choose the smart charging station over a convenient non-sustainable alternative when behavioral costs were small to moderate. In situations with no or only negligible extra costs, participants did not need additional persuasion, whereas in high-cost situations, behavioral interventions were insufficient to influence behavior.
... End-users influence the quantity of energy they manage in a home due to their thermal preferences, habits, culture, and economy [2,[11][12][13][14][15][16]. Thus, they represent a crucial element in reducing electricity consumption; hence, their attitudes need to be oriented into a pro-environmental one [17][18][19]. Regrettably, trying to shape users' habits is challenging, as it is in human nature to return to old habits [13,[20][21][22]. ...
In 2021, the residential sector had an electricity consumption of around 39% in México. Householders influence the quantity of energy they manage in a home due to their preferences, culture, and economy. Hence, profiling the householders' behavior in communities allows designers or engineers to build strategies that promote energy reductions. The household socially connected products ease routine tasks and help profile the householder. Furthermore, gamification strategies model householders' habits by enhancing services through ludic experiences. Therefore, a gamified smart community concept emerged during this research as an understanding that this type of community does not need a physical location but has similar characteristics. Thus, this paper proposes a three-step framework to tailor interfaces. During the first step, the householder type and consumption level were analyzed using available online databases for Mexico. Then, two artificial neural networks were built, trained, and deployed during the second step to tailor an interactive interface. Thus, the third step deploys an interactive and tailored dashboard. Moreover, the research analysis reflected the predominant personality traits. Besides, some locations have more electricity consumption than others associated with the relative humidity, the outdoor temperature, or the poverty level. The interactive dashboard provides insights about the game elements needed depending on the personality traits, location, and electricity bill. Therefore, this proposal considers all householders (typical and non-typical users) to deploy tailored interfaces designed for smart communities. Currently, the game elements proposed during this research are reported by the literature, so their adoption is assured.
... The application of gameful interventions to the achievement of pro-environmental outcomes is gaining momentum (Morganti et al., 2017) as scientists, educators and policy makers continue to face challenges when it comes to finding effective strategies to engage the public with environmental concerns (Wu & Lee, 2015). Johnson et al.'s (2017) review of 25 pro-environmental conservation studies found that gamification and serious games appear to be of value within the domain of energy consumption, conservation and efficiency, with varying degrees of evidence for positive effects on behaviour, cognition, knowledge and learning, and the user experience. ...
Background
To overcome the high failure rate of gameful interventions, we need to better understand their design and evaluation strategies to build an evidence-base for best-practice approaches that bring about meaningful change. This systematic review asks: ‘What behavioural and technological design and evaluation theories and approaches are applied in games developed to bring about positive environmental outcomes?’.
Method
We reviewed 52 papers published between 2015 and 2020 that used gameful interventions to improve behaviour related to environmental outcomes. These papers were analysed to review the behavioural and technical design, and the assessment and evaluation approaches, employed by the intervention designers.
Results
We found that these publications report on simple aspects of the behavioural and technical design behind the intervention but fail to justify their design choices in terms of theory and evidence. Furthermore, variability across their evaluation approaches and outcomes exists.
Discussion
This review highlights several systemic flaws in the literature that limit our understanding of gameful interventions in the pro-environmental context. First, based on this review, we cannot be convinced that these interventions were designed according to best practice for intervention design or for technology development. Second, the justification for proposing a gameful intervention is not always clear. Finally, it is unclear whether these interventions are being evaluated based on best practice. Thus, it is not clear that we can draw confident conclusions about evidence-based outcomes of short-term engagement (in structural gamification interventions) or long-term behaviour change (in content gamification and serious game interventions).
... Various communication tools have been developed to allow communication and social learning among the stakeholders. Such tools are often based on an ABM, given its advantage in simulating human agent interactions and linking individual stakeholder behaviors to system-level performance [34][35][36][37]. For example, Castella et al. [38] invited local farmers to play a serious game involving land and money allocation for agricultural production within a village in Vietnam. ...
The emergence of the cellulosic bioeconomy requires not only adequate technological, economic, and policy advances, but also effective communication and coordination among the multiple stakeholders in the bioeconomy community. Aiming to facilitate stakeholder communication and collaboration for cellulosic bioeconomy growth, an agent-based model is developed as a community communication tool in this study. The tool simulates the behaviors and interactions of key stakeholders, as well as the responses and interactions between the stakeholders and biophysical, socioeconomic, and environmental conditions. The agent behavior rules are developed and validated based on behavior and economic theories and information attained from a stakeholder focus group study and a land use survey. A pilot study in a Central Illinois watershed shows stakeholder synergies, i.e., positive feedback loops across multiple stakeholders. The modeling tool's role in facilitating community communication is demonstrated via the focus group study. A comparison of policy scenarios suggests that the cellulosic bioeconomy development is fastest under a portfolio of policies combining the views of the multiple stakeholders. Critically, subsidy for small-scale bio-facilities is essential as it rapidly initializes an early market for cellulosic feedstocks and the adoption of Miscanthus. The communication tool is applied to bringing stakeholders and researchers together to develop shared visions, assess barriers, and explore solution portfolios to initialize and speed up the regional cellulosic bioeconomy.
... Gamification has been shown to be effective in influencing various sustainable behaviors, most notably energy conservation and sustainable commuting [26]. For example, gamification positively impacts awareness, learning, and behavioral outcomes related to energy efficiency [27][28][29]; encourages walking, biking, and public transportation use [29,30]; persuades drivers to adopt fuel-efficient driving habits [31]; and supports environmentally friendly dietary choices [32]. In addition, gamification has been used to promote water conservation [33] and heating cost reduction [34]. ...
This paper encircles explorative design research in a multiple stakeholder triple helix project concerning circular economy and household recycling. Design ethnography was employed to find implications for outlining a gamification artifact that would fa-cilitate recycling behaviors. We collected our data during 27 weeks by attending two field sites: Site A, project stakeholder meetings and a participatory design workshop, and Site B, semi-structured interviews in the household stakeholders’ residences. Our thematic analysis of the sites’ collected ethnographic record extrapolated two specific categories: Stakeholder requirements and Gamification ruleset, together en-folding five key-themes and various sub-themes that could be used to inform the de-sign of a gamification artifact aimed at recycling. Also, based on our research, we propose two research propositions regarding storytelling and understanding for fur-ther gamification design researchers to investigate.
... The relatively new concept of gamification started to appear in internet blogs during the past decade to describe the trend of companies, especially technology-based start-ups, to incorporate elements and logic from video games into their software to enhance user engagement (Huotari and Hamari, 2012), (Deterding et al., 2011). This responded to evidence that pointed out the capacity of games to promote practical skills (Morganti et al., 2017), such as "selective attention, multi-tasking, and visual short-term memory tasks" (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Hence, it became relevant to understand and apply the logic behind video games to other platforms to foster behaviors beyond the gaming activity itself. ...
This paper aims to analyze the extent to which gamification is an effective alternative to promote the adoption of democratic pro-environmental behaviors and contribute towards the creation of the relative organization culture. The accepted definition of gamification for this paper is the process of enhancing a service with affordances for gameful experiences to support users’ overall value creation. This marketing perspective approach focuses more on the effects obtained as a consequence of activating intrinsic and extrinsic motivation through gamified systems rather than the analysis of the characteristics of the game design elements and the incentives for its practical and actual adaptation and utilization within organizations. Furthermore, the proposed model is linked with the ESG criteria to further incentivize its organization’s adaptation from theory to practice. Finally, the paper indicates limitations and areas of further research towards green ocean strategies that can maximize its applications and impact.
... In 2018, a study focusing on "serious games" applied to the field of sustainable development, showed that one in three games was part of this theme, with environmental (18%) and social (16%) dimensions mainly addressed [28]. This can indeed be verified by the increasing number of studies on the subject [29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. ...
Climate change appears to be the ecological issue which benefits from the most attention in the literature, compared to equally alarming situations such as plastic pollution. In fact, waste management issues took a new step with the recent discovery of microplastics in human blood for the first time, as it used to be a hypothesis. Instead of separating those questions, some researchers tend to consider that a link exists between the effects of global warming and plastic degradation in the ocean. Research focusing on the construal-level theory and the psychological distance explain the lack of public interest in the environmental crisis. However, recent studies highlight the empirical support of the psychological distance instead of the CLT, especially regarding climate change, but a few studies explore the psychological distance related to plastic pollution. With that in mind, any means to reduce the perceived psychological distance regarding environmental issues such as plastic pollution might increase their sensitivity and motivation to act. Moreover, the change of habit could be induced by a new event that would disrupt someone’s daily life according to the habit discontinuity hypothesis, and the use of immersive media such as video games might be the solution. Given numerous possibilities of creation with the scenarios, gameplay, public of interest and gaming contexts, video games also influence motivation, engagement and learning ability. We can also find specific components and mechanisms from game design in media that do not focus on entertainment first but on pedagogical purpose: serious games. Thus, this study investigates how immersive media might reduce specific psychological distance dimensions and trigger emotions using an educational video game on plastic pollution, which might play a major role in changing ones’ daily habits. The research uses a qualitative method centered on semi-structured individual interviews and the experimentation of a video game named Plasticity. Results support all the propositions and show that different types of immersion might reduce each dimension of the psychological distance, which is a first, reinforcing environmental awareness and new intentions of pro-environmental behavior. Other areas of discussion are furthered explored.
... The use of gamification to instil recycling behaviour for waste reduction is still in its infancy, and its' potential has been understudied (Morganti et al., 2017). Through Edcraft, a programme that instils recycling and upcycling behaviour through gamified activities, behaviour to a limited extent (Maltseva et al., 2019). ...
Edcraft, a recycling and upcycling event for Malaysian secondary school students, particularly in the Klang Valley area in 2020. The event's goal was to look into gamified solutions to encourage recycling and upcycling among the students’ age group. Lectures, talks, practical exercises and games were used to teach students about climate change and environmental preservation. According to a post-event survey, the percentage of participants who recycle has climbed significantly: 76% now recycle, compared to only 24% previously. The study discovered that gamification-based activities could effectively facilitate recycling and upcycling behaviours. Such solutions can be applied to encourage behavioural changes in different contexts. By interviewing 15 Edcraft students in a focus group study setting, researchers could better understand the motivations. Themes such as 'social connections are vital', 'convenience and rewards are significant motivators', 'gamified activities help attract and engage teens' and 'environmental knowledge is crucial to prolonging recycling' emerged from the thematic analysis. This manuscript proposes gamified activities to induce a behavioural change in upcycling, and the findings yield helpful insights to fuel pro-environmental behaviours.
... The gamification of education through the incorporation of game design elements into educational settings is considered as a developing approach for increasing learners' motivation and engagement (Dichev & Dicheva, 2017). Gamification is beneficial to ESD, as it is widely adopted to promote behavioral changes in engagement in pro-environmental behaviors (Du et al., 2020;Morganti et al., 2017;Ouariachi et al., 2020;Ro et al., 2017). By harnessing individuals' abilities and interests, gamification can further advance sustainability communication (Rajanen & Rajanen, 2019). ...
This chapter explores the intricate socio–politico–cultural factors affecting the learning of Thai design students and examines the potential of games and gamification in sustainability learning as an unconventional design pedagogical approach in Thai higher education. At the heart of this chapter is an extensive participatory action research case study from the Sustainable Design course of two universities in Bangkok. The project allows students to learn from game design to raise awareness of sustainability-related issues and use the games to enhance their sustainability learning through peer interactions. Games and gamification can assist Thai design students in obtaining skills essential to education for sustainable development while reducing power distance and uncertainty avoidance among members of the classroom. Research findings also reveal the complex relationships between game-based pedagogical practice and cultural characteristics, such as fun–pleasure orientation and interdependence orientation.
... Furthermore, Aguiar-Castillo et al. (2019) illustrated the effectiveness of the mobile phone application WasteApp in increasing recycling behavior amongst tourists visiting Europe. The success of these and other projects appears to be related to providing extrinsic rewards-based oppor-tunities to learn and try out new behaviors and on the feedback provided about users' performance in comparison to set goals, or other players (Douglas & Brauer, 2021;Morganti et al., 2017). Whilst less work has been focused on gamification to address the lack of concern and limited action on climate change amongst the public, recent reviews (Douglas & Brauer, 2021;Galeote et al., 2021) suggest that this may also be a fruitful context for application. ...
Urban residents are often unevenly vulnerable to extreme weather and climate events due to socioeconomic factors and insufficient greenspace. This can be amplified if citizens are not meaningfully consulted in the planning and design decisions , with changes to greenspace having detrimental impacts on local communities, e.g., through green gentrification. These deficiencies can be addressed through inclusive landscape-level collaborative planning and design processes, where residents are fully engaged in the co-creation of urban greenspaces. A promising way to support co-creation efforts is gamifying technology-based interactive decision support systems (DSSs). Gamification, the incorporation of video game elements or play into non-game contexts, has previously been used for DSSs in urban planning and to inform the public about the impacts of climate change. However, this has yet to combine informational goals with design-play functionality in the redesign of urban greenspaces. We conducted a review of state-of-the-art video game DSSs used for urban planning engagement and climate education. Here, we propose that gamified DSSs should incorporate educational elements about climate change alongside the interactive and engaging elements of urban planning games, particularly for real-world scenarios. This cross-disciplinary approach can facilitate improved community engagement in greenspace planning, informing design and management strategies to ensure multiple benefits for people and the environment in climate-vulnerable cities.
... A gamification platform to help enhance intrinsic motivation for bus ridership and include credit rewards redeemable through participating sponsors also might be implemented (e.g., Morganti et al., 2017;Wee & Choong, 2019;Irvine et al., 2022). Functions that allow for sharing on a social media platform could be employed to leverage on the positive effects of social networks, enhance community connectivity, and resonate with the university student demographic. ...
Reintroduction of Phnom Penh’s City Bus in 2014 has encountered challenges related to active ridership and costs, which have raised concerns over future viability of the system. A successful public transportation system is an essential component of a liveable, smart, and sustainable city, but what are the barriers to improved performance of Phnom Penh’s City Bus programme? The purpose of this paper is to elucidate factors influencing bus-riding behaviour and suggest policy and planning actions that could increase ridership. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) as an overarching guide and structural equation modelling (SEM) as the primary method of analysis, we explored ridership perceptions of 324 university students in Phnom Penh. We focused on this segment of the city’s population as they are highly mobile, tend to be sustainability- conscious, and are predisposed to non-physical, digital, planning strategies. The SEM results indicated that the factors of timeliness and general safety and comfort onboard are significant predictors of attitudes towards bus ridership. Beyond service attributes, a broader SEM analysis of behavioural intentions suggested that subjective norms (perceived social pressure from important referents), personal norms (self-based moral obligation), and positive anticipated emotion (prospects of affective response to performance of behaviour) are significant factors in predicting bus-riding behaviour among university students. Using the results of the SEM analysis, both physical (e.g., bus priority lanes, enhanced walkways and bus stops) and non-physical, information technology alternatives are suggested to enhance bus ridership.
... From the technological development and its connection with the environment awareness presented above, the opportunities offered by mobile applications were observed during the second decade of the XXI century with the aim of exalting the importance of environmental sustainability as a space systematized by academic and scientific studies. In this context, some advances stand out, such as Smiling Earth, a mobile application designed to contribute to climate change by raising awareness among citizens about the carbon footprint and the daily consumption of energy and transport [43], measuring its effectiveness for environmental education [44], and annexing the Google Maps application to reduce local pollution [45]. ...
Mobile applications viewed as digital social change tools are focused on sustainable development, particularly in topics that address ecology and the environment. In this research, the aim is to systematize a review of the 10 most downloaded mobile applications in this context, but deepening on those that use game elements in their interface, organizing them according to components, mechanics and playful dynamics. Findings demonstrate the role of levels and achievements as more repeated dynamics, and challenges and feedback as more relevant elements in gameplay, and finally, emotions and narratives as components of the gamified experience. The incorporation of these elements in mobile games shows that digital gamification in the environmental context is organized from an alternative perspective, where argumentation, the succession of events, the progressive incorporation of difficulty and the interaction with the computerized system modify the traditional view that sees gamification as a superficial system of points.
Gamification is a new trend that has gained increasing importance in climate protection. In recent years, researchers have begun to integrate game elements into non-gaming contexts to encourage green behaviors. The city of Sierre jumped on the bandwagon and initiated a project aiming to use gamification to encourage its population to engage in green behaviors. The research focuses on identifying the barriers and motivators for people to engage in green actions in order to diminish or enhance them using games. Followed by a series of focus groups, 10 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. The main result shows a significant gap between attitude and behavior despite a high level of awareness and positive sustainable intentions. Based on research propositions that have been confronted with the scientific literature, Sierre has therefore collaborated with the HES-SO Valais-Wallis to realize a gaming app on the theme of sustainable development for the population called ECOTREE.KeywordsSustainabilityGamificationBehavior change
The care of elderly people with neurodegenerative diseases leading to cognitive disorders and dementia represents a major health issue. In this context, serious games (SGs) can improve cognitive functions efficiently. Exergames can boost cognitive functions such as attention and memory. In this population, negative feelings can be exacerbated by inadapted technological design. The aim of this study is to design and evaluate an adapted exergame named Escapad for older adults suffering from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). As part of preliminary study, two versions of Escapad were used with both therapists and MCI patients, who rated version 2 as more adaptable. Hence, we have implemented Escapad to stimulate several cognitive domains in elderly people with MCI who have a depressive tendency. Our results showed a significant improvement in visuospatial abilities/executive functions (p = 0.033), temporo-spatial orientation (p = 0.048) and a significant reduction in depression (p = 0.033). Technical aspects and game use are discussed in this paper.KeywordsSerious GameDementiaCognitive ImpairmentRehabilitation
The application of game design principles in several fields, including education, business, medicine, and leisure activities, has emerged as a highly effective method of imparting knowledge and providing entertainment. To boost engagement, gamification involves integrating game concepts into non-game settings, such as a webpage, online forum, learning control system, or company intranet. A game design method known as “edutainment” blends entertainment with teaching to speed up learning. Gamification, edutainment, and serious game design aspects can be utilized in various industries for various goals. These three gaming design approaches can be employed in education to give students common experiences. As an aspect of the gaming experience, games can teach new skills and knowledge for the student to pick up. Practice and reinforcement of current information and abilities are also developed through gaming. The idea of game design elements is applied in marketing, entrepreneurship, and working in business development. In gaming design, video games are employed in marketing and secret codes to capture the user’s attention and transform them into devoted consumers. In the healthcare profession, the notions of the game in gamification, edutainment, and serious games are employed to assist patients, especially younger patients, in understanding healthcare principles, from managing chronic diseases to ensuring medication compliance.KeywordsGamificationEdutainmentsSerious gameMedicineBusinessEducationLeisure
With the ubiquitous use of the Internet and mobile technology, game systems are being used in various fields to achieve goals, including the environmental field. Research has shown that persuasion strategies are effective in encouraging people to behave in an environmentally friendly manner, and in order to better facilitate the achievement of goals, environmental persuasion games use a variety of persuasion strategies to change people’s behavior and attitudes in order to promote environmental behavior. However, most current gamification systems treat users as a single group, and a one-size-fits-all design approach is likely to reduce the effectiveness of persuasion strategies for different types of users, and personalized environmental gamification systems for different user types are yet to be studied. To bridge this gap, we conducted a quantitative study with a large number of users to investigate the following questions: (1) Are persuasive strategies persuasive in promoting environmental behavior? (2) Are there differences in the effectiveness of different persuasion strategies to promote environmental behavior? (3) Is there a difference in understanding the effectiveness of the same user type when faced with different persuasion strategies to promote environmental behavior? (4) Is there an impact of understanding different user types on the effective-ness of the same persuasion strategy? Our results show that there are significant differences in the effectiveness of different persuasion strategies, and that different user types have different preferences for the same persuasion strategy. Based on our analysis, we provide corresponding personalized design suggestions to develop persuasive environmental applications for different user types.KeywordsGamificationUser TypesPersuasive technology
With the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals and national commitments requiring effective implementation of evidence-based innovations, we are witnessing a growing number of related interventions in educational environments based on digitalization and gamification. In particular, serious games and playful activities are being used to empower children’s awareness and reflection on issues related to climate change and sustainability. In this work, we discuss such approaches through the lens of our own experience with an intervention targeting school environments. Our study is based on a playful web application that focuses on sustainability awareness and energy-related aspects, the GAIA Challenge, which was used in over 25 schools in 3 countries, resulting in 3762 registered users. We present a longitudinal study on the use of GAIA Challenge focusing on children’s engagement, rate of completion of the content on offer, and overall reaction by the school communities involved in large-scale trials, complemented with insights from surveys answered by 723 students and 32 educators. Our results showed that up to 20% of the children completed all content available in the Challenge, when gameplay sessions were combined with strong community competition activities. The children also reported increased awareness of related sustainability issues. Our findings demonstrate that a simple playful experience can yield good results within educational environments, by taking into consideration typical school constraints, integrating it to the daily activities of schools and placing it within their strategy.
With regard to the contemporary discussion of gamifying processes in various domains, it is obvious that there exists a naive notion that simply adding leaderboards/pins/points/badges would lead to success. Even though other instances of gamification mechanics could actually perform better. The literature has not yet managed to prove whether different domains require different mechanics in order to impact on engagement and motivation. To address these critical issues, a literature review was conducted across six domains that examined game mechanics, including their uniqueness for gamification research. Findings show a myriad of mechanics with different sharing properties, which are more or less domain-congruent. These mechanics can be separated into four levels: general, mostly similar, partly similar and unique. The findings enable a better understanding of how to employ situation-congruent mechanics to a given context, which is important for both research and practice.
The first chapter aims to set the scene for the book introducing the term disruptive communication and the related concept of radical innovation, which might be an outcome of the disruptive communication processes. The chapter starts with a brief analysis of the state of the planet, the need for concrete action, and society’s non-sufficient response to it. It will dive into some of the strategies proposed by behavioral scientists so far and will argue for why there is a need for more disruptive techniques. It conducts a first analysis of the potential outcomes of such disruptive communication processes. It will also give an overview of the rest of the volume and set the different chapters into a broader framework.
Citizens are expected to play a significant role to the current energy transition in Europe, such as through prosumerism and collective initiatives for energy efficiency. While there are many platforms for domestic energy analytics and for engaging citizens and transition stakeholders on energy topics, context-specific information is frequently lacking. This article outlines the development of an Interactive Policy Platform that aims to provide contextualized, impact-driven, and ready-to-use information on the role of citizen initiatives in the energy and low-carbon transition in Europe. Specifically, it will help researchers, policymakers, and citizens to explore different dimensions of energy citizenship, understand the decarbonization potentials of diverse clusters of citizens, and identify the conditions under which citizen-led energy initiatives are currently operating. The Platform will be co-designed together with a sample of its future users, ensuring the usability of its interface and the relevance of the provided information. Ultimately, the Platform is envisioned to help transition stakeholders understand and support initiatives related to energy citizenship around Europe, thus contributing to the EU’s promise of a just and inclusive decarbonization.
Due to its advantages and the continual availability of solar energy, photovoltaic (PV) systems have become the most popular energy production equipment in various business and residential structures. This chapter proposes solar radiation forecasting to manage solar power generation in residential and commercial buildings using deep learning algorithms. Convolutional neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) are two proposed algorithms created to forecast solar radiation to control the energy produced at a PV plant on the roof of the University of Macau in China. Climate data collected at the university’s meteorological station are used as input variables in solar radiation forecasting. The performance of each network is assessed using a variety of performance evaluation measures. Based on the results and analysis, the LSTM technique, which forecasts solar radiation with an accuracy of R = 99.84%, outperforms the CNN technique that predicts solar radiation with an accuracy of R = 99.71%. Furthermore, the LSTM technique’s predictions exhibit a lower forecasting error than the CNN process.KeywordsSolar energySolar radiation forecastingPhotovoltaic power generationBuildingsConvolutional neural network (CNN)Long short-term memory (LSTM)
Home energy management systems can be defined as systems responsible for monitoring and managing electricity demand to optimize energy consumption. According to a report by the US Energy Information Administration, by 2030, the gap between electricity generation and consumption will reach more than 2 billion GWH, of which 30% of the demand is for the domestic sector, where energy management systems play an essential role in bridging the gap between production and demand. With the expansion of smart homes and companies that work in this field, many activities have been done so far to improve consumption patterns, demand response, monitoring, and control of high-consumption equipment. Home energy management systems consist of five parts: monitoring, control, management, logging, and fault detection. All these components must be directly or indirectly connected to the power company, renewable energy sources, and all household appliances (controllable or uncontrollable). This chapter comprehensively describes home energy management systems and reviews all the existing infrastructure and technologies to achieve the mentioned goals.KeywordsHome Energy Management Systems (HEMS)Demand Response (DR)Smart gridsSmart homeIntegrated wireless technology
Residential buildings account for approximately half of the overall energy and electricity consumed by the building sector in the United States. Much of this energy and electricity consumed is a result of occupant behaviors and occupant-dependent energy-consuming devices and appliances. Residential buildings’ heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, which are designed to meet the comfort requirements of residents, are responsible for more than half of this energy consumption. Similarly, large appliances used by occupants, such as for cooking and water heating, also represent a substantial amount of residential consumption. The energy consumption of these systems depends significantly on the type and sizing of the equipment and/or appliances as well as how occupants utilize these systems and their preferred thermal comfort conditions. Beyond these, plug loads, lighting loads, and miscellaneous loads are also highly dependent on occupants’ activity patterns and their level of interaction with these energy-consuming systems. Therefore, since residential buildings’ energy consumption is directly associated with occupant activities, knowledge of occupant activities and load patterns in residential buildings can help to both quantify energy consumption patterns for energy modeling applications, variability in residential energy use, as well as be used for estimating the savings potential of various equipment, controls, and retrofits. Accordingly, this chapter reviews the current state of the art in residential occupancy and load modeling, including datasets and data challenges, and methods of occupancy and activity pattern modeling, as well as current research in the use of this information to better estimate the energy and/or demand savings potential of technologies and controls.KeywordsOccupant behaviorOccupancy sensingResidential energy consumptionOccupant modelingEnergy-consuming behaviors
Purpose
This study aimed to develop an integrative model that comprehensively explores the antecedents of pro-environmental intentions in young people. The study follows customer value theory (CVT) and the theoretical framework of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB).
Design/methodology/approach
Data was obtained from a field survey of two secondary schools in Hong Kong. A total of 279 young people (age range: 10–12 years old; 53.8% males) were recruited to complete the survey. Smart-PLS 3 was used to test the research model with partial least squares structural equation modelling.
Findings
The findings provided empirical evidence that the perceived values of children regarding environmentalism play an essential role in developing pro-environmental attitudes and behavioural intentions, such as recycling intention and conservation intention. The results support the utility of TPB for its adoption of attitude and behavioural intention as key components of the model. The use of CVT showed that three dimensions of young people’s perceived values, namely, emotional value, functional value and relational value, predict a pro-environmental attitude, while attitude predicts recycling intention and conservation intention.
Practical implications
This study offers crucial insight for schools and the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region government, who are focussed on spurring the perceived values, attitudes and behavioural intentions of young people towards environmentalism. This study shows that young people’s emotional values, functional values and relational values are important for transforming pro-environmental attitudes into behavioural intentions in young people.
Originality/value
This study measured the impact of young people’s perceived values on pro-environmental intentions. Few studies address how perceived values affect young people’s pro-environmental behaviour. This study integrates CVT and TPB to explore the source of young people’s pro-environmental intentions.
This paper studies the impact of internet access on household electricity consumption, using three waves (six years) of China Family Panel Study survey data. We separately explore short-, medium-, and long-term effects. The panel fixed regression results indicate that after gaining access to the internet, individual electricity consumption declines about 1.2% as the short-run effect (around two years). Difference-in-differences (DID) estimation shows that after using the internet for four years, individual electricity demand declines on average a total of 12.5% as the medium-term effect. For all internet users during the entire survey period, propensity score matching (PSM) shows that electricity consumption decreases 16.3% on average compared to nonusers, which can be seen as the long-term effect. Substitution and optimization of household appliances and individual pro-environmental behaviors and green lifestyles promoted by digitalization may explain the results. Our findings suggest that policies to enhance access to high-speed, affordable, and reliable internet services contribute to reducing household electricity consumption, thereby helping cut CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions from fossil fuel-based power plants while also alleviating problems of insufficient electricity production capacity.
Computer games are ubiquitous and can be utilized for serious purposes such as health and education. “Applied games” including serious games (in brief, computerized games for serious purposes) and gamification (gaming elements used outside of games) have the potential to increase the impact of mental health internet interventions via three processes. First, by extending the reach of online programs to those who might not otherwise use them. Second, by improving engagement through both game-based and “serious” motivational dynamics. Third, by utilizing varied mechanisms for change, including therapeutic processes and gaming features. In this scoping review, we aim to advance the field by exploring the potential and opportunities available in this area. We review engagement factors which may be exploited and demonstrate that there is promising evidence of effectiveness for serious games for depression from contemporary systematic reviews. We illustrate six major categories of tested applied games for mental health (exergames, virtual reality, cognitive behavior therapy-based games, entertainment games, biofeedback, and cognitive training games) and demonstrate that it is feasible to translate traditional evidence-based interventions into computer gaming formats and to exploit features of computer games for therapeutic change. Applied games have considerable potential for increasing the impact of online interventions for mental health. However, there are few independent trials, and direct comparisons of game-based and non-game-based interventions are lacking. Further research, faster iterations, rapid testing, non-traditional collaborations, and user-centered approaches are needed to respond to diverse user needs and preferences in rapidly changing environments.
To test the effectiveness of competitive and collaborative settings on engaging households, a mobile app, called Social Power, was developed to provide electricity meter feedback in two gamified environments. The project aims at stimulating social engagement and promoting behavioural change to save electricity at the household level by forming teams of neighbours in two Swiss cities. The household participants are assigned to one of two teams: either a collaborative team where citizens in the same city try to reach a fixed, collective 10% electricity savings target together, or a competitive team which tries to save the most electricity in comparison to the other city. The collaborative and competitive games were run in parallel as a three month field experiment (with long term monitoring after one year, planned for spring 2017) involving 108 recruited households, and 46 who actively played. The experiment complements the process of smart meter roll-outs initiated by the local energy utility in each respective city with the secondary aim of capturing added benefits of smart meters. Weekly electricity-saving themed challenges are presented to the household member playing on the app. By playing, the participants can change their real-life electricity consumption by interacting differently with their home electricity appliances and at the same time acquire four types of points in the app: electricity saving, electricity efficiency, energy awareness and peak-shifting. New challenges each week and continued interaction aim to improve non-sustainable habits. Tips, quizzes with tangible prizes, and individual badges for accomplishments are used as further incentives for participation. Alongside the app, a blog page and Facebook exist to allow players to interact with each other. An 2 electricity use interface visualises the household electricity demand at hourly and weekly intervals and shows the change from the historical average, as well as their team's savings performance. In this paper we introduce preliminary results on the short-term success of the two game environments after the intervention phase completed in May 2016.
Serious Games (SGs) have been able to shape new opportunities for human training and empowerment, imparting knowledge or skills in an engaging and motivating way to a new generation of learners. Further, they can be used to improve the quality of both individual and collective experience. In particular, SGs can nurture positive emotions promote engagement, as well as enhance social integration and connectedness. An in-depth analysis of each of these aspects will be presented in the chapter, with the support of concrete examples and case-analysis. Eventually, a game design practice will be discussed. Knowledge and awareness of hedonic, eudaimonic and social principles improve user-centered design models can be both fundamental to enhance learning effectiveness and retention and to improve players’ well-being, contributing to the development of sustainable communities of practices.
Background: Gambling disorder (GD) is characterized by a significant lack of self-control and is associated with impulsivity-related personality traits. It is also linked to deficits in emotional regulation and frequently co-occurs with anxiety and depression symptoms. There is also evidence that emotional dysregulation may play a mediatory role between GD and psychopathological symptomatology. Few studies have reported the outcomes of psychological interventions that specifically address these underlying processes.
Objectives: To assess the utility of the Playmancer platform, a serious video game, as an additional therapy tool in a CBT intervention for GD, and to estimate pre-post changes in measures of impulsivity, anger expression and psychopathological symptomatology.
Method: The sample comprised a single group of 16 male treatment-seeking individuals with severe GD diagnosis. Therapy intervention consisted of 16 group weekly CBT sessions and, concurrently, 10 additional weekly sessions of a serious video game. Pre-post treatment scores on South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), I7 Impulsiveness Questionnaire (I7), State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory 2 (STAXI-2), Symptom Checklist-Revised (SCL-90-R), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S-T), and Novelty Seeking from the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R) were compared.
Results: After the intervention, significant changes were observed in several measures of impulsivity, anger expression and other psychopathological symptoms. Dropout and relapse rates during treatment were similar to those described in the literature for CBT.
Conclusion: Complementing CBT interventions for GD with a specific therapy approach like a serious video game might be helpful in addressing certain underlying factors which are usually difficult to change, including impulsivity and anger expression.
As water scarcity problems will probably increase over the next decade, it is important to explore ways to reduce water consumption in everyday individual behaviors. In line with previous field research, we aimed to show in a laboratory setting that descriptive norms could effectively influence water reduction actions. Moreover, because the impact of such actions would be valuable if repeated over time, we investigated whether the effect of descriptive norms interventions can last for at least a week. We conducted three studies using two messages targeting different ways to achieve a reduction in water consumption (i.e., closing the tap and using as little water as possible) for hand washing. We provide additional empirical evidence that descriptive norms are effective in increasing water conservation actions and that this influence remains for at least a week.
This paper presents a further innovation of the collaborative decision support network LENVIS, developed in the homonymous European FP7 project (Localized ENVIronmental Services for all, www.lenvis.eu).
The system is aimed at supporting water and air quality management and assessing the impact on health computed as emergency hospital admissions.
LENVIS has been designed according to the Internet of Services paradigm: several web services, such as sensors data integrators, geographical information systems, predictive and simulation models, and data analytics tools, have been suitably combined to provide complex applications to different stakeholders.
LENVIS has been already integrated with popular social networking platforms as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin ensuring that its information can be assessed seamlessly during a user’s regular internet browsing activities and that the user generated contents can be processed by LENVIS analytics.
The experiences referred to in this paper are from Milan, a city in Northern Italy with severe pollution problems, mostly due to Particulate Matters (PM), and three cities in Portugal, where the quality of bathing water affects the way in which population uses water resources.
This paper presents a study called the Energy Battle, a game aimed at encouraging home occupants to save energy. Twenty student-households were provided with direct feedback and an online platform with energy feedback over time, ranking of the competing teams, tips and a game. The study showed that the game context strongly influenced the motivation to save energy. Overall, savings averaged 24%, with the highest savings level at 45%. Directly after completion of the Energy Battle, energy consumption increased among most of the households, although consumption levels tended to stay below the baseline measurement level taken before the Energy Battle. Follow-up interviews indicated that some of the behaviours developed in the game had transformed into habits. A game such as the Energy Battle appears to provide a powerful means to stimulate energy saving in the short term. The potential to achieve long term effects appears possible, however further research is required to understand long-term implications for an Energy Battle game.
Energy behaviours represent a significant untapped potential for the increase of end-use energy efficiency in buildings. Although energy behaviours are a major determinant of energy use in buildings, energy savings potential due to behaviour are usually neglected, albeit being referred to be as high as those from technological solutions.This paper presents a review of recent literature on energy behaviours in order to recognise recent trends, quantify energy behaviours potential savings, characterise energy behaviour modelling strategies and identify potential research gaps.Energy behaviour research is vast and has been essentially focused on the residential sector, striving to establish behaviour determinants and the best strategies and instruments to promote more efficient energy behaviours. Potential savings of energy behaviours are referred to reach 20%, but values differ up to 100% between experiences and additional studies to quantify behavioural savings are needed, in particular by using standard quantification techniques.Different modelling techniques have been used to model energy behaviours: qualitative approaches from the social sciences trying to interpret behaviour, here named energy behaviour frameworks; quantitative approaches from the engineering and economics that quantify energy consumption, here designated by energy models; and hybrid approaches that are considered the most relevant since they integrate multiple dimensions of energy behaviours, here referred as energy behaviour modelling.Energy behaviours have a crucial role in promoting energy efficiency, but energy behaviours characteristics and complexity create several research challenges that must be overcome so energy behaviours may be properly valorised and integrated in the energy policy context.
Cognitive control is defined by a set of neural processes that allow us to interact with our complex environment in a goal-directed manner. Humans regularly challenge these control processes when attempting to simultaneously accomplish multiple goals (multitasking), generating interference as the result of fundamental information processing limitations. It is clear that multitasking behaviour has become ubiquitous in today's technologically dense world, and substantial evidence has accrued regarding multitasking difficulties and cognitive control deficits in our ageing population. Here we show that multitasking performance, as assessed with a custom-designed three-dimensional video game (NeuroRacer), exhibits a linear age-related decline from 20 to 79 years of age. By playing an adaptive version of NeuroRacer in multitasking training mode, older adults (60 to 85 years old) reduced multitasking costs compared to both an active control group and a no-contact control group, attaining levels beyond those achieved by untrained 20-year-old participants, with gains persisting for 6 months. Furthermore, age-related deficits in neural signatures of cognitive control, as measured with electroencephalography, were remediated by multitasking training (enhanced midline frontal theta power and frontal-posterior theta coherence). Critically, this training resulted in performance benefits that extended to untrained cognitive control abilities (enhanced sustained attention and working memory), with an increase in midline frontal theta power predicting the training-induced boost in sustained attention and preservation of multitasking improvement 6 months later. These findings highlight the robust plasticity of the prefrontal cognitive control system in the ageing brain, and provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, of how a custom-designed video game can be used to assess cognitive abilities across the lifespan, evaluate underlying neural mechanisms, and serve as a powerful tool for cognitive enhancement.
Recent focus on sustainability has made consumers more aware of our joint responsibility for conserving energy resources such as electricity. However, reducing electricity use can be difficult with only a meter and a monthly or annual electricity bill. With the emergence of new power meters units, information on electricity consumption is now available digitally and wirelessly. This enables the design and deployment of a new class of persuasive systems giving consumers insight into their use of energy resources and means for reducing it. In this paper, we explore the design and use of one such system, Power Advisor, promoting electricity conservation through tailored information on a mobile phone or tablet. The use of the system in 10 households was studied over 7 weeks. Findings provide insight into peoples awareness of electricity consumption in their home and how this may be influenced through design.
Measures of proenvironmental behavior in psychological studies do not always reflect the actual environmental impact of a person or household. Therefore, the results of these studies provide little insight into variables that could be helpful in reducing household environmental impact. In this article, an environmentally significant measure of household consumer behavior (i.e., combined direct and indirect energy use) is presented and compared with a common social science measure of proenvironmental behavior (based on popular notions of environmentally significant behavior). Two large-scale field studies were conducted among representative samples of Dutch households. The results showed respondents who indicate they behave more proenvironmentally do not necessarily use less energy. Also, proenvironmental behavior is more strongly related to attitudinal variables, whereas household energy use is primarily related to variables such as income and household size. More multidisciplinary research seems necessary to identify variables that influence the actual environmental impact of household consumer behavior.
Numerous theoretical frameworks have been developed to explain the gap between the possession of environmental knowledge and environmental awareness, and displaying pro-environmental behavior. Although many hundreds of studies have been undertaken, no definitive explanation has yet been found. Our article describes a few of the most influential and commonly used analytical frameworks: early US linear progression models; altruism, empathy and prosocial behavior models; and finally, sociological models. All of the models we discuss (and many of the ones we do not such as economic models, psychological models that look at behavior in general, social marketing models and that have become known as deliberative and inclusionary processes or procedures (DIPS)) have some validity in certain circumstances. This indicates that the question of what shapes pro-environmental behavior is such a complex one that it cannot be visualized through one single framework or diagram. We then analyze the factors that have been found to have some influence, positive or negative, on pro-environmental behavior such as demographic factors, external factors (e.g. institutional, economic, social and cultural) and internal factors (e.g. motivation, pro-environmental knowledge, awareness, values, attitudes, emotion, locus of control, responsibilities and priorities). Although we point out that developing a model that tries to incorporate all factors might neither be feasible nor useful, we feel that it can help illuminate this complex field. Accordingly, we propose our own model based on the work of Fliegenschnee and Schelakovsky (1998) who were influenced by Fietkau and Kessel (1981).
In order to develop a more sustainable society, the wider public will need to increase engagement in pro-environmental behaviors. Psychological research on pro-environmental behaviors has thus far focused on identifying individual factors that promote such behavior, designing interventions based on these factors, and evaluating these interventions. Contextual factors that may also influence behavior at an aggregate level have been largely ignored. In the current study, we test a novel hypothesis - whether simply being in a sustainable building can elicit environmentally sustainable behavior. We find support for our hypothesis: people are significantly more likely to correctly choose the proper disposal bin (garbage, compost, recycling) in a building designed with sustainability in mind compared to a building that was not. Questionnaires reveal that these results are not due to self-selection biases. Our study provides empirical support that one's surroundings can have a profound and positive impact on behavior. It also suggests the opportunity for a new line of research that bridges psychology, design, and policy-making in an attempt to understand how the human environment can be designed and used as a subtle yet powerful tool to encourage and achieve aggregate pro-environmental behavior.
Recent years have seen a rapid proliferation of mass-market consumer software that takes inspiration from video games. Usually summarized as "gamification", this trend connects to a sizeable body of existing concepts and research in human-computer interaction and game studies, such as serious games, pervasive games, alternate reality games, or playful design. However, it is not clear how "gamification" relates to these, whether it denotes a novel phenomenon, and how to define it. Thus, in this paper we investigate "gamification" and the historical origins of the term in relation to precursors and similar concepts. It is suggested that "gamified" applications provide insight into novel, gameful phenomena complementary to playful phenomena. Based on our research, we propose a definition of "gamification" as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts.
Achieving a sustainable future requires that individuals adopt different values, attitudes, habits, and behaviors, which are often learned and cemented at a young age. Unfortunately, current educational efforts are inadequate for achieving transformative action. Even programs whose primary goal is to promote responsible, pro-environmental behaviors have largely failed at creating change among students. The lack of efficacy in sustainability-related educational programs is at least partly due to faulty assumptions about knowledge automatically leading to action, and by extension, the information-intensive methods that focus largely on declarative knowledge regarding how environmental systems work. Meanwhile, social science literature clearly highlights the need to go beyond ecological and technical knowledge when educating for transformative action, since sustainable behaviors are motivated by much more than declarative information. In order to effectively educate for sustainability, alternative forms of knowledge (i.e., procedural, effectiveness, and social knowledge) are essential, as is the consideration of various barriers and motivators for action. The transition towards sustainability will require action and change that is guided by an understanding of the complexities that arise within an interconnected system, as well as the ability to collaborate with people from diverse backgrounds, while keeping an eye to the future. In formulating our approach to educating for sustainability, we incorporate perspectives from three somewhat disparate fields: (i) behavioral change research, (ii) sustainability scholarship, and (iii) educational pedagogy. While drawing upon diverse knowledge domains, our primary purpose is to integrate behavior change research and sustainability competencies in developing effective educational approaches for transformative actions.
Serious gaming is generally considered to be a powerful means to educate people. Using such games influencing the energy consumers of tomorrow, i.e. present-day secondary school students to become more environmentally friendly and conserve more energy at home presents researchers and designers with a specific set of challenges: in addition to resorting desired effects on outcome variables, the game also has to appeal to people who are highly critical. This paper presents some preliminary evaluation results of a project initiated to do just that: a serious game was developed to increase awareness and attitudes relating to energy use in the household, in a number of European countries. Combining results from exploratory quantitative and qualitative pilot studies and a quantitative field experiment, we come to the following conclusions: (serious) gaming in the field of sustainability and energy conservation is not common among students, as evidenced by extremely low percentages of reported use. Furthermore, results clearly show that playing EnerCities increased awareness, and more positive attitudes towards some everyday-life energy-related behaviours.
There are several claims in the literature that social desirability concerns affect people’s response to self-reported measures
of environmental attitudes and ecological behaviour. However, only a few empirical studies have indirectly evaluated the impact of social desirability on environmental issues measures, and those who did have found only a low impact.
This article describes two studies that explicitly address whether socially desirable responding has direct and moderating effects on self-reported environmental attitudes
and ecological behaviour. Results from correlational and moderated multiple regression analyses from both studies showed that
social desirability had only a weak direct effect on environmental attitudes (but not ecological behaviour), and had no moderating
effect on the environmental attitudes–ecological behaviour relationship. Implications of these findings for research on environmental
issues are discussed.
In this multidisciplinary study, an Internet-based tool was used to encourage households (N=189) to reduce their direct (gas, electricity and fuel) and indirect energy use (embedded in the production, transportation and disposal of consumer goods). A combination of tailored information, goal setting (5%), and tailored feedback was used. The purpose of this study was to examine whether this combination of interventions would result in (i) changes in direct and indirect energy use, (ii) changes in energy-related behaviors, and (iii) changes in behavioral antecedents (i.e. knowledge). After 5 months, households exposed to the combination of interventions saved 5.1%, while households in the control group used 0.7% more energy. Households exposed to the interventions saved significantly more direct energy than households in the control group did. No difference in indirect energy savings emerged. Households exposed to the interventions adopted a number of energy-saving behaviors during the course of the study, whereas households in the control group did so to a lesser extent. Households exposed to the interventions had significantly higher knowledge levels of energy conservation than the control group had. It is argued that if the aim is to effectively encourage household energy conservation, it is necessary to examine changes in energy use, energy-related behaviors and behavioral antecedents.
Environmental quality strongly depends on human behaviour patterns. We review the contribution and the potential of environmental psychology for understanding and promoting pro-environmental behaviour. A general framework is proposed, comprising: (1) identification of the behaviour to be changed, (2) examination of the main factors underlying this behaviour, (3) design and application of interventions to change behaviour to reduce environmental impact, and (4) evaluation of the effects of interventions. We discuss how environmental psychologists empirically studied these four topics, identify apparent shortcomings so far, and indicate major issues for future research.
A study of the effect of video game practice on spatial abilities in girls and boys was carried out. Spatial performance, measured using two subtests of a computerized spatial skills battery, was significantly better in boys than in girls during pretest assessment. Subjects then practiced on an action video game, Marble Madness, or a computerized word game, Conjecture. Video game practice was significantly more effective than the word game in improving spatial performance on the posttest assessment; there was no significant interaction of gender with experimental treatment. However, video game practice was more effective for children who started out with relatively poor spatial skills. The pattern of results suggests that video games may be useful in equalizing individual differences in spatial skill performance, including those associated with gender.
Competition has become an increasingly popular strategy to engage individuals in energy and resource conservation; however, there has not been an objective, independent review of existing competition programs focusing on the reduction of energy use. This paper attempts to address this shortcoming. This paper reviews a representative selection of completed and ongoing energy reduction competitions in the United States and uses the lessons learned to provide best practice guidance on the design, implementation, and evaluation of future programs. Four key research questions are addressed in this study: • How effective have competitions been at changing behavior and reducing energy? • How long do energy savings persist after the end of competitions? • Under what circumstances are competitions more or less effective? • What are common best practices for the design, implementation and evaluation of energy and resource conservation competitions? The primary target audiences for this paper are electric and natural gas utilities seeking to broaden their portfolio of behavior-based interventions, as well as potential designers, implementers and evaluators of energy reduction competitions. Our intention is to improve the effectiveness of competitions and to suggest when competition may or may not be an effective strategy to save energy over the long term.
Household energy consumption remains ripe for behavioral intervention, being responsible for an estimated 31% of U.S. CO2 emissions. As researchers attempt to understand the factors that influence household energy efficiency behaviors, we suggest it is important to attend to behavioral plasticity - how the perceived difficulty of behavioral responses varies across individuals, behaviors, and contexts. We present a new instrument composed of behaviors identified in previous analyses as having the highest impact on residential energy consumption. Our instrument allows for the specific measurement of self-reported behaviors, behavioral intentions, and inability to perform behaviors. Results from a convenience sample of 1522 U.S. adults demonstrate the construct validity of this instrument, as key factors known to influence pro-environmental behaviors - e.g., key environmental beliefs and attitudes - predict household energy efficiency behaviors.
This paper reviews electricity consumption feedback literature to explore the potential of electricity feedback to affect residential consumers’ electricity usage patterns. The review highlights a substantial amount of literature covering the debate over the effectiveness of different feedback criteria to residential customer acceptance and overall conservation and peak demand reduction. Researchers studying the effects of feedback on everyday energy use have observed substantial variation in effect size, both within and between studies. Although researchers still continue to question the types of feedback that are most effective in encouraging conservation and peak load reduction, some trends have emerged. These include that feedback be received as quickly as possible to the time of consumption; be related to a standard; be clear and meaningful and where possible both direct and indirect feedback be customised to the customer. In general, the literature finds that feedback can reduce electricity consumption in homes by 5 to 20 percent, but that significant gaps remain in our knowledge of the effectiveness and cost benefit of feedback.
An easy and reliable method for measuring ethylene production is a prerequisite for research on fungal ethylene biosynthesis. In the present study, Botrytis cinerea was used as a model fungus to develop a method to detect in vitro production of ethylene. Spore suspensions were cultured in methionine-supplemented PDA. Small plates were excised from the medium and placed in a sealed ampoule bottle for the ethylene production assay. Gaseous samples were obtained from the sealed bottle for gas chromatography analysis. Using this method, eight species of phytopathogenic fungi (Alternaria alternate, Aspergillus niger, B. cinerea, Cladosporium sp., Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizopus stolonifer, Pestalotiopsis spp. and Penicillium spp.) were shown to produce significant levels of ethylene. Ethylene production by these fungi varied markedly during the seven day incubation period. In addition to the facilitation of fungal ethylene analyses, the present method allowed the observation of morphological characteristics of the test fungi during the assay. This spore-plate method is a simple, convenient, and broadly applicable method for assessing fungal ethylene production in vitro. This method may improve screening of fungi with high ethylene production rates, analysis of fungal growth and development, and be useful in crop protection.