Eco-Game Design Lessons for Climate Communication: Augmenting Players’ Environmentalism

Videogames are an innovative and promising arena in climate communication, but there is limited understanding of how their design can contribute to this field. Improving this knowledge can help designers create appealing and effective ecogames. In a repeated measures design, we conducted a qualitative interventional study ($\mathrm{N}=34$). In a series of interviews (short-term) and descriptive surveys (long-term), we examined how, and to what extent, a commercial eco-game (Beyond Blue, 2020) can influence participants’ environmental attitudes, biocentric awareness, and eco-motivation. Participants shared their experience of Beyond Blue’s gameplay, as well as their opinions on how to improve it and develop successful eco-games. We found that ecogames can be effective in illustrating and envisioning different ecological setups and constructing a link between people and the environment. Our findings produce design recommendations for eco-games and shed light on how enhancing the interactivity of game mechanics, persuasiveness of the narrative, immersive realism of the animation, and theme-appropriate framing can aid in conveying environmental messages. We highlight choice-driven and customisable gameplay as efficient ways to improve eco-games.