Save a monster blob and become the king of the castle using the electric appliances in your home.In the mobile phone game, Power Explorer, the habitat of your own “monster blob” is connected in real time to your home’s own electricity usage. This means that practically everything you do in your home will create an echo in the game world.
In this research project we continue to explore how teenagers can be encouraged to engage in the energy usage in their homes. This is done through the use of a reality expanded mobile computer game (i.e. a pervasive game). The advantages that this reality expansion creates, is that the players will be placed in a situated learning experience as the entire home becomes a game interface. In this project however we, in opposition to previous projects, specifically aim to provide a more relaxed and casual game style to encourage less short term strategies leading to more persistent energy savings.
In addition we also explore the role that real time energy monitoring could play in these kinds of games both in terms of entertainment value and pedagogic. One idea is for example that appliance level feedback can be simulated when using real time readings by mapping changes in consumption to the current actions preformed.
The “Home” The “Pile”
When playing the Power Explorer the players all have their own “monster blob” alter ego. Turning on an electric appliance in your home will cause nasty weed to grow in the monster habitat, the home view, while turning something off, in the same manner, will produce nice flowers. The size of the plants relates to the power consumed by the appliance. To keep your monster blob happy and healthy you need to save electricity and turn off as many devices you can. Excess use of electricity will cause dark clouds of CO2 in the sky, and makes your blob sick. Low CO2 levels will on the other hand mean that your monster will advance in “The Pile”, a king of the castle like feature where you compete with the other players.
Real Time Challenges in the Game
For an additional boost of adrenaline you can also challenge your opponents to one out of two duels. Your success in the duel will partly be determined by your knowledge of the electric landscape of your home. In the polar duel your monster blob will receive an item/animal to throw at your opponent depending on the electric appliance used. In the rainforest challenge, the monster blobs speed on a racetrack is set in accordance to consumption level. Obstacles along the way can only be passed at certain intervals meaning that the player has to find the right speed of the avatar by manipulating consumption.
The polar duel at the “North Pole” The rain forest challenge in the “Rain Forest”
Preliminary Results
Over the course of 6 days in May 2008, 15 teenagers in the age 12-14 participated in a game test. After the game test attitudes towards saving energy had improved among the players. Measurements on consumption indicate average savings in the range 6 – 20% for the weeks following the game. Ten weeks after the test the player group still shows lower energy consumption than a reference group of 20 houses not participating in the test.
Related work
Visit our web site www.tii.se/energydesign and http://www.youngenergy.se/ for more information about our earlier research projects and other related work in the field of creating tools for energy awareness.