The design of the Save Energy serious game, Green My Place, as it stands after 6 months. With thanks to Chris Bateman, Mahtava Oy, Lumenatra and Leyla Nasibova.
3. Green My Building!
A Game Concept aimed at achieving behaviour
transformation through energy awareness.
Multiplayer game played with a www-browser in 5
different building locations during ~1 year.
Players play simple, fast eco-action based games to win
tools/trophys to upgrade their Pilot Building and make it
the best among the 5 buildings.
4. The Story
Europe is in danger! Dr. Waste has Europe in his grip, keeping people in the dark
about smart energy-use. While people are forced to use huge amounts of
unnecessary, unclean energy, Dr. Waste burns oil and coal and cuts down forests
to feed his profits. This is going to cause big environmental problems...
You want it better! By saving energy within the whole EU area, Dr. Waste can be
defeated. Take back the money from wasted energy and invest it into greening
up the place! Sustainable energy, like water, solar and wind power, plus efficient
behaviour will make Dr. Waste a thing of the past.
You and your friends in Luleå, Manchester, Helsinki, Lisboa and Leiden
have a common goal: Greener Europe. Fight for it and make the Europe a
more beautiful, sustainable place. And remember: if you are the most effective
one, you and your country will be counted as leaders in the fight to go green.
5. How it integrates to real life?
Real world energy saving has an effect in the game
The game is seen on a daily basis, to remind the people about
the project and to show the scores
Special events, screen savers and other real world actions
remind the people about the game and energy saving overall
Mini-games engage the people, motivate them to find out about
energy efficiency, and some games give ideas for energy saving
Customizing the games for each building makes a mental
connection between the real world and the game ideas
6. Two levels of play
Minigames
Brief single-player, one-session, 1...5 minutes / gameplay
Always related to energy use
Can be educational or simply serve to engage players
For engagment-only games, the education comes from further info
Metagame/Framework/MMO/MSO
On-going for the whole (academic) year 2010-2011
World and Buildings that contain the minigames
Gives context, story, place and meaning
Demonstrates the results of the player involvement and pilot
efficiency progress:
buildings get improved or decrepit
A TECHNICAL ANNEX DESCRIBES THE GAME’S ARCHITECTURE
7. Competition and Collaboration
COMPETE COLLABORATE
Each other in minigames‟ high- Collaborate to gain score for
score lists (in buildings) the pilot building by playing
PLAYERS minigames (can play for
Each other in a minigame by others’ buildings too!)
challenging somebody else
Buildings compete each Buildings/cities collaborate
other by total together to lower the total
GROUPS score/achievements earned energy consumption as
by a building as visualized in visualized in front page
the frontpage (e.g. ”Luleå is
greener than Helsinki”)
8. Structured Incentives: Scoring
Personal level
Each player has her own game-play and score records for each game
These scores can be compared and ranked to make top-lists and compare with other players
Building level
Basic unit is kWh
Basic level is estimated consumption (use history and trends)
Scores from different games can be compared to similar scores from other buildings
Combined scores from games gain achievements which have an effect on building consumption
The total score is calculated from estimates, compared to real consumption, which is modified with the
achievements
Europe level
Buildings can be compared together
There is a common enemy, against which all of the buildings are fighting together
The better the buildings do, the greener Europe gets
A TECHNICAL ANNEX DESCRIBES THE SCORING
9. Structured Incentives: Achievements
Players win achievements in minigames/quizzes, and they
are placed on buildings. Different minigames yield different
achievements.
Achievements are energy saving and "green" symbols:
Clean Air
Solar panels
Plants & trees
„Smart‟ Electrical Equipment
Wind turbines
10. Structured Incentives: Achievements
Each model can be achieved by playing a game that corresponds to the functionality
of the equipment, e.g. energy-saving lights can be achieved by playing the „Lights Off‟ game.
Each equipment has levels, which can be achieved by playing the games even more.
Higher level equipment cause more bonus to the score. Each level also has its own graphics.
The achieved equipment will be seen at least at the building view, and also maybe on
the map of Europe (needs prototyping).
There should also be an indicator to show that there are achievements that have not
yet been gained. These indicators should tell the criteria for the achievement, e.g. "Play 30
rounds of Lights off game to gain the Light timer. The light timer gives you 2% bonus to your
score". The percentage of bonus gained does not need to have any real-life based value. It is
purely a game-play element. But if wanted, there could be some "information box" about the
equipment, giving some real-world based info.
11. Getting out of the virtual
Screens in building lobbies showing visualization of the game
Map and buildings (entry view front-page)
Pilot buildings pages
Energy use visualisations
Player social interaction – challenges, achievements, etc
Special events with in-game and out-game advertising (Find
the lowpoint-day...)
Screenshot.exe to be installed, with game reminders
12. Chapter II
Schedule of meta-game: Greening the Place
13. Timeline
Behaviour change needs time
Game design aims to be engaging for 12+ months
Beta-test period required – 3 months
testing social tools, user feedback
Full release period – 9 months
Centred on mid-winter
Leaving 3 months for reporting
Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Beta-test Full release period Reporting
14. Scheduled Events
One event per week to catch attention
Special scoring bonuses for selected mini-games
Quizzes to test energy-efficiency (EE) knowledge
Pilot-specific events run by „green champions‟
Thus point-of-interaction for player is mutable
Any relevant kind of activity can be slotted in
Quizzes, games & local events are equivalent, but each should have a
different effect on participants: we may predict that games are the
most engaging, quizzes give best educational value, etc
15. Schedule
Repetition & predictability makes conformity & behaviour
change easy
2 weeks of games, 1 week for quiz & 1 week for special event
Repeat pattern every month
Advertise the schedule and highlight the weekly event on the site and
across all other available media
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 ...
Quiz on EE Electrickery Lecture in AirConTroll Quiz on EE EnergyDash EE challenge ReNewer
knowledge play bonus pilot on EE play bonus knowledge Play bonus play bonus
17. Entry Point View
Stylistic map of Europe with the buildings at
their locations
Overall score reflected in each building‟s
environment: greyness vs cheeriness
Player activity shows as achievement icons
around the building
Oil pipelines cluster & join to each building
The less energy is used, the smaller the cluster
& greener the type
The more energy in building used, more it
detoriates visually
Clicking on a building leads to pilot view
A TECHNICAL ANNEX DESCRIBES THE GRAPHICAL LAYOUT
18.
19. Pilot View
Show tabs with pilot's statistics in categories
Achievements (list of what is visible: Flags,
Flowers)
Show top supporter scores, including
"Green Hero of the week“
Overview of ”educational scores”: which
appliances were least well known in this
city
Show overall score and comparison to
other buildings
Show building detoriate, if bad score
Show building improve, if good score
Show current scoring events in schedule
Clicking on games list leads to game view
20.
21. Game Choice View
If player not logged in: ask for username & password or
"play as a guest" – button (this is where you log in!)
Window
Watcher Lights Out
Guest gamers contribute to house's score with some
multiplier
Air
Electricker
For registered users, the game view shows "real-time"
ConTroll
y
rankings of the building, 3 best and 2 better and 2 worse
of the players
Game view shows weekly scores of each building below
each others. Player's score is added to own building
score after game over
Player can send a challenge to any other player = score
and optional message.
Games visually „localized‟ so they remind of player's own
building
22. Energy Dash Window Watcher Lights Out
ReNewer Air ConTroll Electrickery
23. Game Play
Chosen mini-game appears against background
of pilot
Graphics relate game directly to pilot building
Oil pipe „filling‟ the game panel, coming from pilot
building background image
24.
25. Debrief/Information View
Shown when player completes game
Further Information
Relates to thematic content of game, and to
relevant pilot building Your Work Place Reading Materials
Saving Energy
Visualisation of current pilot energy-efficiency ...
Saving Water
status, with opportunity to „go deeper‟ & see full ...
data sets Carbon Calculators
...
Breakdown of player‟s effect on pilot status Info on Lights
...
Suggested actions (visual to be completed)
Links to relevant external sites and tools –
anything to do with energy area covered in
game, or with the pilot itself (local events etc)
All info displayed is contextual and changes each
time and for each pilot
26. Further Information
Further Information
Reading Materials
Your Work Place: Now
Saving electricity
Do you know why it's so important to save electricity at your house? It's because electric
companies often produce electricity by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural
gas. The burning of fossil fuels contributes to global warming and pollutes the air.
Saving water
1. Water-saving technology for the home includes:
2. Low-flow shower heads (sometimes called energy-efficient shower heads as they
also use less energy, due to less water being heated)
3. Low-flush toilets, composting toilets and waterless urinals, have a dramatic impact
in the developed world, as conventional Western toilets use large volumes of water.
Even saline water (sea water) can be used for flushing.
4. Faucet aerators, which break water flow into fine droplets to maintain "wetting
effectiveness" while using less water. As a bonus, they reduce splashing while
washing hands and dishes.
5. Waterless car wash
6. Rainwater harvesting
7. Infrared or foot operated faucets can save water by using short bursts of water for
rinsing in the kitchen or bathroom.
Carbon Calculators
(visual to be completed)
28. Player View
Player goes here to see own
statistics
Games tried, number of tries
Scores on games
Rank
Social interactions: messages
Account information
Some editable (personal/sensitive)
Some not (records must be
maintained for data mining player
behaviours)