Chapter 2 has shown that Games for Change lack the appropriate use of behaviour change theory in their design, and often rely on points, badges, and leaderboards. The previous chapter has shown that this is true when scoping the analysis down to the application domain of energy conservation. We have seen that there is a need for improved feedback technologies in the residential energy space as a means of reducing CO2 emissions to mitigate Climate
Change. Recent studies on in-home displays and web portals are showing only 3–5% conservation effect in larger sample studies, compared to original estimates of around 6–10% (McKerracher & Torriti 2013).
Serious Game designs for the purpose of energy conservation are still in their early stages, and indeed some prototype designs such as the Wattever system (Vaijayanthi & Marur 2012), and MAEGUS (Nataraja & Whittinghill 2013) are beginning to show the potential steps that can be made in the area beyond just the PBL triad. This research aims to build upon lessons learned
from past implementations, but also explore new avenues identified by following a defined methodology for intervention design that is based upon behavioural theory.
This leads to the guiding research question for this work:
What are the opportunities and challenges in integrating both game design and behaviour change techniques towards the development of a Serious Game for changing residential energy behaviour?
At the core of this research question are the components of Serious Game design, behaviour change theories and energy conservation. The literature has shown that energy conservation in a residential setting is an important area to focus on (Ehrhardt-Martinez et al. 2010). Serious Games have been used in this setting, as has behaviour change theory in the form of Social Normative Theory in non-technology based examples, however these two concepts are yet to be combined. This work seeks to address this, and goes further by providing a introducing a broader range of psychological theories, and by developing a robust approach to design that may be replicated by other researchers in the field.
This thesis takes these three core components, brings them together, and explores both the opportunities and challenges in doing so.
From the research question, it can be seen that addressing the question is likely to contribute to the body of knowledge in the areas of Serious Games, behavioural psychology, and energy interventions in general. In order to effectively address this multi-faceted question, a number of sub-research questions have been identified, and these are described in the next section. 3.1.1 Sub-Research Questions
The main research question for this project seeks to determine the opportunities and challenges involved in making a Serious Game that is underpinned by well-founded behaviour change techniques. This section presents a number of sub-research questions developed to the end of breaking the main research question into more richly defined and specific components.
In total, there are five sub-research questions, and these are broadly categorised into questions about the
- opportunities: determining what work in the energy domain has been done before, and how we can build upon it; and
- challenges: exploring the issues that may arise when developing a new approach to Serious Game design and implementation in the energy conservation domain.
The following sub-sections present these two groupings of sub-research questions, before a summary aided by a diagram of the sub-research questions is provided.
3.1.1.1 Opportunities
Answering the main research question involves bringing together knowledge from a number of very different domains. This leads to the first sub-research question (SRQ1), concerned with the different types of approaches to using Serious Games for energy conservation.
SRQ1: How have Serious Games been used to influence energy behaviour in the past and how could they be improved?
This sub-research question in part can be answered by exploring the previous work in the area of Serious Games and energy conservation, and examining which elements produced the greatest impact. A greater understanding of how these implementations impact energy behaviour can guide the design of future Serious Games.
Similarly, SRQ2 draws from previous work in the social sciences that attempted to bring about energy behaviour change.
SRQ2: How can behaviour change theories be used to influence residential energy behaviour? Again, identifying opportunities for how theory can impact residential behaviour based upon the literature is an important part of understanding the main research question. It will also guide the choice of the most promising behaviour change techniques to employ in the design of the Serious Game.
In order to truly explore the opportunities (and also the challenges) afforded by designing a Serious Game that brings together game elements and behaviour change techniques, a case study of such a game should be conducted. However, as the extant literature shows, implementations of Serious Games have so far not been informed by behaviour change theories directly, leaving us with no such game to analyse. As will be described throughout this chapter, an illustrative game that draws on design principles underpinned by behaviour change, providing an empirical basis for understanding the practical performance of games stemming from a more integrated approach to design was implemented. The intent is to understand how theoretical design and practical performance interact, and to provide guidance to the wider research community as to how future Serious Games in the energy space may be optimally implemented and deployed.
This affords us the advantage of being able to deeply explore the design process, a process which constitutes a major contribution of this work as it has never been attempted before. This
unique integration of Serious Game elements and behaviour change techniques is represented by SRQ3.
SRQ3: How can we design a Serious Game that integrates game elements and behaviour change techniques within an energy conservation context?
The undertaking of this new game design method is not foreseen to be easy, but rather challenging, and therein lies the value. This work aims not to just simply present a Serious Game that formally incorporates behaviour change techniques, but to also fully explore the challenges in doing so. The following section covers the sub-research questions pertaining to these challenges.
3.1.1.2 Challenges
Bringing together the complex areas of game design, behaviour change techniques, and energy conservation is a unique task. The previous sub-research questions have considered the opportunities of this, however it is an important output of this work to discuss the myriad challenges of doing so. As such, SRQ4 focusses on the challenges involved with the design process.
SRQ4: What are the challenges involved in designing a Serious Game for changing residential energy behaviour?
To further strengthen the discussion of challenges, it is important to also cover the implementation-based issues that can arise when evaluating a Serious Game in the area of energy conservation. SRQ5 considers the challenges relating to the experiment process, as well as the practical factors that may impede a game that was designed using the process covered by SRQ3.
SRQ5: What factors can influence the likelihood of successes of a Serious Game for changing residential energy behaviour?
Answering SRQ4 and SRQ5 provide value to future researchers not only looking to develop energy conservation interventions in the form of Serious Games, but developers of Serious Games in general. The output of these questions form a valuable contribution by detailing the key considerations in the delivery of a multi-disciplinary process such as this.
3.1.1.3 Sub-Research Questions Summary
To address the main research question, sub-research questions were created that in general look at the opportunities and challenges of bringing together behaviour change techniques
and Serious Games. Figure 24 shows diagrammatically the ways in which the sub-research questions address the main question.
Figure 24. Diagram of concepts of the main research question, and how these concepts relate to the sub-research questions.
SRQ1 and SRQ2 consider Serious Games and behaviour change theory respectively in terms of the possibilities of applying those techniques in the area of energy conservation. SRQ3 represents the marrying of these two concepts in the form of a novel design process. Finally, SRQ4 addresses the challenges involved in the intervention design process, and SRQ5 covers the practical factors that may arise when attempting to deploy such an intervention.
3.1.2 Research Question Summary
The guiding research question for this work has been provided in this section. The core themes of the question are Serious Games, behaviour change techniques, and residential energy conservation. The question explores both the opportunities and challenges that exist when looking at the complex and novel process of bringing Serious Game elements and behaviour change techniques together.
To aid in answering the multi-faceted main research question, sub-research questions were developed, three covering opportunities, and two covering the different kinds of challenges. With these sub-research questions in mind, in the next section identifies the data requirements for addressing these questions, and the source of that data. From these requirements, a suitable methodology and research design can be formed.