After reading parts of The Gameful World: Approaches, Issues, Applications, I wanted to write about the application of gamification to sustainability and the ethics of doing so. I feel very passionately about changing the way that we consume products in order to protect the planet. Sadly, I have come to the realisation that the primary way to make both companies and consumers responsible for their actions is to make sustainability profitable. I believe that gamification may be able to bridge the gap between rewarding consumers for their behaviour while educating them about environmental issues and potential solutions to the damage that we have caused.
Fig. 1 Aerial Photography of Casino (2018)
Digital applications designed to raise awareness on environmental issues and increase consumer engagement are examples of “Gamified Activism” (Sgueo, 2017). Gamification has become one of the top business trends, with some companies using game mechanics to provide “rewards for making good, green choices” (Makower, 2012 cited in Froehlich, 2014:563). Additionally, after doing some research I found that there are two types of pro-environmental behaviour that can be seen in consumers; the first is that individuals act on their own behalf “to maximise their material welfare, subjective wellbeing, or utility,” and to minimise costs. In contrast, the second behaviour is that consumers act on the behalf of the greater good by being environmentally conscious and altruistic (Stern, 2011 cited in Froehlich, 2014:567).
Research has found that apps that use game mechanics such as providing feedback or using a points system to reward behaviour are more positively received by consumers than apps that “attempt to change behaviour by providing information alone.” As a result, they can lead to longer-term psychological engagement (Douglas and Brauer, 2021:10). In 2012, Al Gore (American politician and environmentalist) launched Reality Drop in an attempt to “counter climate change denial” caused by misinformation on social media platforms. Players of the game had to decide what news was fake on climate change, and were given points for playing and leaving comments (Sgueo, 2017).
There are also examples of gamification for environmental awareness being used in energy efficiency programmes; Opower works with utilities to provide home energy reports that use behavioural science strategies such as “loss aversion and tailoring to encourage energy-efficient behaviour.” Households are awarded a “Great” or “Good” label alongside some smiley faces for being energy efficient on their report, or are given a “Below Average” label (Froehlich, 2014:570). Opower currently has 80 utility clients and has saved “more than two terawatt-hours of energy worldwide since its first utility customer in 2007” (equivalent to removing a city with a population of 500,000 people off the grid for a year; DeWitt, 2013 cited in Froehlich, 2014:570).
Fig. 2 Cardboard Box With Recycling Graphics (2021)
Cars have also been designed with gamified eco-driving dashboards; “both the Nissan Leaf and the Ford interface provide dashboard visualizations of growing leaves and vines that track and reward driver efficiency” These game mechanics have been compared to playing a Tamagotchi-style game, as “real-world actions affect the vitality of some organism” (Makower 2012 cited in Froehlich, 2014:578). The Nissan Carwings system also enables efficient drivers to earn virtual trophies depending on where they rank on the driver leader board.
My final example of a company using gamification to increase consumer engagement is Recyclebank. The company issues recycling bins with a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag that enables them to automatically be identified and weighed when picked up by “waste management trucks.” Households are then given feedback for their volume of recycling via the website and earn points which can be redeemed at partner companies (e.g. Walmart, IKEA). Recyclebank has been used by three million customers who have saved an average of $130, with recycling increasing by “14-155% in partnering cities” (Recyclebank 2011 cited in Froehlich, 2014:581). Having said that, a survey found that “only 17% of 1,012 respondents felt that the Recyclebank Rewards program encouraged them to recycle more,” and it could be argued that the company’s scheme is supporting our culture of consumption through the volume of recycling collected (Froehlich, 2014:583).
Fig. 3 Coloured Bins Next to Grey Wall (2018)
Advantages of gamification used for climate-change activism are that it has the potential to “engage wide audiences in debate on climate change.” A number of studies conducted have demonstrated the power of game mechanics in changing both individual and collective behaviour. Moreover, gamification could help to overcome “obstacles that hinder popular support for ecological action” such as the perception that sustainability is complex and boring (Sgueo, 2017). On the other hand, disadvantages include the “digital divide” (between those who can access technology and those who cannot), that the frequently used reward systems may not be adequate for inducing pro-environmental behaviour from consumers, and claims that gamification may also discourage these behaviours. For example, if participants in gamified experiments believe that their decision making is being manipulated they are less likely to participate in pro-environmental behaviour (Sgueo, 2017).
In The Gameful World: Approaches, Issues, Applications Froehlich discusses the ethics of persuasive systems, as they become “even more complicated in areas like public health and environmental sustainability where societal benefits must be weighed against personal costs” such as encroachment on individual rights. Companies have the potential to “exploit employee behaviour,” “create new business models that reward a particular way of being.,” and falsify information in order promote pro-environmental behaviour. Furthermore, legislation could emerge in the future such as fines for not driving ecologically, and mandates for recycling amounts (Froehlich, 2014:585). During the lecture on Procedural Rhetoric Dr Cenci explained that gaming used to be an escape from productivity, and when systems are gamified, we are no longer playing them for our own sake. As a result, there is no escapism as our work is gamified and becomes productive. In this way it has the potential to become a form of social control (Cenci, 2021).
To conclude, I believe that the application of gamification to sustainability is potentially limitless, making it a very exciting concept. Having said that, the most successful examples of this in practice have had an educational focus, which is unfortunately very hard to measure as an impact on consumer behaviour. There is also the issue that most of the examples that I mentioned earlier have only managed to engage consumers for a short period of time (Sgueo, 2017).
Bibliography
Cenci, R. (2021) Lecture 2 Procedural Rhetoric - Part 4. [Epsom: University for the Creative Arts].
Douglas, B. and Brauer, M. (2021) ‘Gamification to Prevent Climate Change: A Review of Games and Apps for Sustainability’ In: Current Opinion in Psychology 42 pp.1-21. At: file:///C:/Users/Amy%20Edwards/Downloads/Gaming%20and%20Sustainability_Final.pdf (Accessed 05/11/2021).
Froehlich, J. (2014) ‘Gamifying Green: Gamification and Environmental Sustainability’ In: Walz, S. and Deterding, S. (eds.) The Gameful World: Approaches, Issues, Applications. Cambridge: MIT Press. pp. 563-598.
Sgueo, G. (2017) Gamification and Climate Change Activism - Beneficial or Detrimental? At: https://medium.com/@GianlucaSgueo/gamification-and-climate-change-activism-beneficial-or-detrimental-b1b011304b2e (Accessed 05/11/2021).
List of Images
Fig. 1 Chuma, A. (2018) Aerial Photography of Casino. [Photo] At: https://unsplash.com/photos/-iknRNEmeOM (Accessed 06/06/2022).
Fig. 2 Viragh, M. (2021) Cardboard Box With Recycling Graphics. [Photo] At:https://unsplash.com/photos/ZQas4Ehf-F4(Accessed 06/06/2022).
Fig. 3 Czerwinski, P. (2018) Coloured Bins Next to Grey Wall. [Photo] At: https://unsplash.com/photos/RkIsyD_AVvc(Accessed 06/06/2022).
Comments