Abstract:

Climate changes caused by the increase of human CO2 emissions have resulted in political initiatives to stop these increases. One way to reach the goal of reduced CO2 emissions is through encouraging individuals to change their behaviour in regards to their resource usage. Individuals can reduce their CO2 emissions from electricity use either by reducing the amount of electricity they use, or by moving their electricity use to hours of the day when electricity is produced with fewer CO2 emissions, which is known as shifting. ShareBuddy is a casual mobile game that encourages players to reduce their CO2 emissions through resource usage reductions and shifting. In ShareBuddy, players must share their real-life water and electricity usage with a virtual avatar known as “buddy”. The buddy needs resources to carry out daily activities, which enables players to play arcade mini-games, and adds points to the players' score. I conducted a field study of ShareBuddy at the Grundfos Dormitory, where it was played by 32 students. The field study demonstrated that players enjoyed the game and liked the incorporation of resource data into the game, but did not report becoming more aware of their resource usage. Despite the heavy emphasis on shifting electricity use in the game, players did not seem to understand the shifting concept. During the field study, players both reduced and shifted their resource usage, but it could not be attributed to having played the game. ShareBuddy demonstrates that the goal of encouraging people to shift their electricity usage to off-peak periods is challenging, starting with a lack of understanding of the shifting concept.