Gaming for Good : Triggering do-good Excitement in a Mobile Game

Abstract: Mobile games present a great opportunity for organizations with sustainability agendas to spread their message and generate revenue towards its cause, as they are the best money generating apps. This can be done through designing so-called persuasive games. A major challenge when designing such a game is that the sustainability agenda might compromise the gaming experience, rendering an uninteresting game. The present research explores what could trigger both an interesting game that also compromises a do-good agenda by designing and play testing two versions of a persuasive game called Aqua Escape. Results indicated that users felt more excited about the game once they knew about the social agenda. They also wanted more information on the social agenda integrated into the app than was already there.