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Power explorer: a casual game style for encouraging long term behavior change among teenagers

Published: 29 October 2009 Publication History

Abstract

When it comes to motivating teenagers towards energy awareness, new approaches need to be considered. One such is the use of pervasive games connected to the players own energy consumption. Earlier work has confirmed this to be a highly effective approach. The question however remains if post game effects on behavior can be achieved. In this paper we try to answer this by trying out a slightly different design compared to previous work. The hypothesis is that a more casual game play and a richer learning interaction enabled by building the game on a real time sensor system could stimulate more lasting effects. Electric consumption data after the 7 days evaluation on a test group of 15 players shows tentative indications for a persistent post game effect compared to the control group of 20 households. Findings also show a statistically significant positive change in the players' attitude towards saving energy compared to the same group. Findings, at the same time, also indicate a negative effect on the player's attitude toward environmental questions in general.

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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    ACE '09: Proceedings of the International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology
    October 2009
    456 pages
    ISBN:9781605588643
    DOI:10.1145/1690388
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Published: 29 October 2009

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    Author Tags

    1. advergames
    2. behavior change
    3. energy conservation
    4. persuasive games
    5. pervasive games
    6. serious games

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    • (2024)The Influence of Young People on Household Decisions on Energy Efficiency in LatviaEnvironmental and Climate Technologies10.2478/rtuect-2024-000528:1(45-57)Online publication date: 12-Feb-2024
    • (2024)Visualizing the Environmental Impact of Dietary Choices: Exploring an Interactive Mini-World as a Proxy to Communicate Three Planetary Boundaries: Visualiser l’impact environnemental des choix alimentaires : exploration d’un mini-monde interactif comme visualisation mandataire pour communiquer trois limites planétairesProceedings of the 35th Conference on l'Interaction Humain-Machine10.1145/3649792.3649804(1-16)Online publication date: 25-Mar-2024
    • (2024)Care-Based Eco-Feedback Augmented with Generative AI: Fostering Pro-Environmental Behavior through Emotional AttachmentProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642296(1-15)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
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    • (2023)Review of Serious Energy Games: Objectives, Approaches, Applications, Data Integration, and Performance AssessmentEnergies10.3390/en1619694816:19(6948)Online publication date: 4-Oct-2023
    • (2022)Gameful Green: A Systematic Review on the Use of Serious Computer Games and Gamified Mobile Apps to Foster Pro-Environmental Information, Attitudes and BehaviorsSustainability10.3390/su14161040014:16(10400)Online publication date: 21-Aug-2022
    • (2022)The Effects of Sensory Cues on Immersive Experiences for Fostering Technology-Assisted Sustainable Behavior: A Systematic ReviewBehavioral Sciences10.3390/bs1210036112:10(361)Online publication date: 27-Sep-2022
    • (2022)Review of Demand Response and Energy Communities in Serious GamesIEEE Access10.1109/ACCESS.2022.320201310(91018-91026)Online publication date: 2022
    • (2022)Empower saving energy into smart communities using social products with a gamification structure for tailored Human–Machine Interfaces within smart homesInternational Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM)10.1007/s12008-022-01141-317:3(1363-1387)Online publication date: 26-Dec-2022
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