Environmental Game Design Playbook
A designer and educator resource
A groundbreaking landmark research paper that explicitly connects environmental psychology to best practices in game design for the purpose of co-creating a common design language for discussing climate action in games. Built by game developers for game developers, in partnership with researchers, climate activists, and people who love games, this initial release details 4 key predictors of pro-environmental behaviors and 19 design tactics.
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Design Case
Role: Lead Author / Lead Researcher
Who is it for
Game designers, environmentalists, educators.
Goal / Problem
Games have a unique ability to create a positive impact on players. Their ability to influence all major predictors of pro-environmental behavior (knowledge, self-efficacy, attitude, hope) is unparalleled by any other medium, as is their reach.
However, previous attempts by studios to create meaningful change via games have almost universally fallen short, a problem stemming from a lack of understanding of core concepts for design for impact. These core concepts have been thoroughly studied and documented by researchers, but with little success in achieving any level of commercial success or scaled distribution.
The result is two different worlds, one of designers and one of researchers, that did not communicate. This lack of communication severely reduced the ability of the games industry to create impactful climate-focused games.
What it is / Solution Description
The EGDP sought to solve this issue by creating a collaborative design that incorporated the expertise of world class game designers and researchers. Through the International Game Developers Association I organized these experts to produce a resource that brought together the best practice and evidence-based approaches across both disciplines.
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The result is the EGDP, an 80-page document highlighting critical elements of climate psychology, environmental education, serious game design, and game development best practice.
Hurdles / Challenges
The primary challenge in this project was resource. As an all-volunteer team, contributors to the project could not always commit to deadlines or milestones. The core team, however, was able to effectively organize volunteer members to distribute large tasks across multiple volunteers.
Results
The EDGP focused on design-oriented "tactics" that provided concrete examples of how theory had been applied in more limited circumstances along with recommendations of how to integrate these concepts into existing games.
Implementation and Testing
The EGDP has been adopted by a litany of organizations, including
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The United Nations Green Game Jam
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​Microsoft Sustainability Program
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University of Utrecht
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University of Koln Game Lab​