Vermontivate is a 6-week team-based game created by Kathryn Blume and Nick Lange of VEIC to encourage sustainability actions. Players form town or school teams and complete weekly challenges on themes like food, energy, and transportation to earn points. Challenges range from easy tasks like using reusable bags to harder ones like home insulation. The game aims to raise environmental awareness and engagement through a flexible scoring system that rewards both quantifiable and creative actions. Surveys found increased understanding of sustainability issues among players after participating.
2. Prepared By
Manu Melwin Joy
Assistant Professor
SCMS School of Technology and Management
Kerala, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com
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3. Vermontivate
• Vermontivate is a team-
based game that runs for six
weeks, during which the
players compete to accrue as
many points as possible for
completing a variety of
sustainability-focused
actions.
4.
5. Vermontivate
• The game was originally created
by Kathryn Blume, an
environmental activist and artist,
and Nick Lange, an energy
efficiency consultant with the
Vermont Energy Investment
Corporation (VEIC), which
sponsored the 2012 pilot game.
6.
7. Vermontivate
• Vermontivate is played in teams
formed by Vermont towns or
schools. People living outside
Vermont can join a town team; for
example, a resident of
Massachusetts with friends or
relatives in Vermont could still help
them accrue points and win. In
2012, the game attracted 225
participants from 31 towns .
8.
9. Vermontivate
• A new set of challenges is
announced to all
Vermontivate players every
week. Each week has a
different theme: team-
building, food, energy,
transportation, capital, and
future action.
11. Vermontivate
• Weekly challenges are ranked as
easy, medium, hard, or wildcard
(an action created by the player
to suit his/her circumstances). An
easy challenge might be using
reusable grocery bags or turning
out the lights, while a hard
challenge might be completing a
whole-home insulation.
12. Vermontivate
• Vermontivate has a fairly
complicated scoring system:
players can receive
anywhere from 1 point for
just signing up to 500 points
for being selected player of
the week.
13. Vermontivate
• Team scores are calculated by
adding up a team’s total points
and dividing by its number of
players. Vermontivate also has a
more detailed algorithm
intended to calculate the relative
“quality” of team performance.
14. Vermontivate
• Vermontivate is not only about
bottom-line energy savings but
also about raising awareness and
encouraging reflection about
environmental problems. The
game aims to encourage as much
sustainability-focused activity as
possible, and the organizers are
eager to reward creativity.
15. Vermontivate
• The scoring system seems
deliberately flexible in order to
encourage and reward such
creativity. While the game rewards
quantifiable changes such as
reducing electricity consumption or
vehicle miles traveled, it is equally
supportive of actions that are
creative, educational, or awareness
raising.
16. Vermontivate
• Thus, in addition to earning
points for actions like using
reusable grocery bags or
combining car trips to save gas,
players can also earn them for
writing a song related to the
environment or assessing
whether or not to start a home
garden.
17. Vermontivate
• According to VEIC, 94–95% of
players reported average to
above-average understanding
of and engagement with
climate change and
sustainability after playing
Vermontivate, compared to
78% prior to playing.
18. Vermontivate
• In addition, 85–87% of
players strongly agreed that
Vermontivate helped them
feel like they could make a
positive change in their life
and community.
19. Vermontivate
• In the 2014 game, 711
players from all 14 counties
in the state (59 towns, and
8 schools) completed 4,673
challenges.
20. Vermontivate
• In the 2014 game, 711
players from all 14 counties
in the state (59 towns, and
8 schools) completed 4,673
challenges.
