Transforming Sustainability Through Gamification

Polina Koroleva

MKAI November Inclusive Forum:

As the severity of the effects of Climate Change intensifies, we are experiencing temperature rise, melting of the glaciers, and extreme weather events increasing in frequency. Everything we do and every decision we make can have a net positive or net negative effect on our natural environment. Across the food we eat, the ways that we travel, and even how we use digital services, there are hundreds of everyday opportunities for each of us to act more sustainability, but we don't always take these opportunities. Sometimes, we aren't even aware of the environmental best course of action or the effects of a given behaviour or action.

We need quick fixes that can encourage the people who are most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions and the pollution of our lands and oceans to change their negative behaviour. Adjustments that will greatly lessen the stress on planetary systems.

In recent years, the climate change and sustainability movement, along with the digital sector, have paid increased attention to the idea of 'gamification' as a way of actively engaging people in environmental issues and their impact on the planet. Prior research has demonstrated, for instance, that gamification can be utilised effectively in disaster emergency planning and to promote community disaster awareness. Additionally, there is growing awareness of the opportunity for gamification to play a more substantial role in raising environmental awareness, changing behaviours to reduce our impact on the planet and creating new societal narratives.

Gamification: What is it?

Gamification is the use of gaming aspects in settings other than those for games to change behaviour in the real world. In order to promote engagement, gamified programmes incorporate game mechanics like points, badges, leaderboards, and challenges to events in real life that could otherwise seem uninteresting or routine. These gaming building blocks are employed to captivate people, find solutions to issues, and promote particular behaviours.

Gamification is becoming increasingly common, and it may be applied in various situations, including those related to education, health, and business. With tremendous success, many businesses have implemented gamified strategies to raise customer or staff engagement.

Forum content:

During the forum, we will pose the following questions:

1) How can we employ gamified strategies to foster or boost the crucial (positive) sustainable behaviours that lead to a significant shift in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions?

2) How can we use gamification to foster responsible behaviour?

3) What ethical limitations or issues do we need to take into account?

4) In what contexts has the use of gamification helped to lessen environmental impact?

5) What will it take to scale the techniques that work effectively and ethically?

Inclusivity:

MKAI events are inclusive. Our expert speakers are carefully selected for their ability to make the subject approachable and understandable. MKAI aims to help everyone improve their fluency and understanding of our world and the convergence of technologies.

Forum Contributors and Speakers

  • Daniel Fernandez Galeote, Game Researcher at Gamification Group, Tampere University
  • Benjamin Douglas, PhD student in the University of Wisconsin–Madison Psychology Department
  • Amanda Kramer, Instruction Design Strategist
  • Filip Wojcik, Doctoral Researcher at University of Warsaw; Senior Consultant at Deloitte's Sustainability & Economics Team

Register here

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