Online multiplayer games as virtual laboratories for collecting data on social‐ecological decision making

Duthie, A. Bradley; Minderman, Jeroen; Rakotonarivo, O. Sarobidy; Ochoa, Gabriela

doi:10.1111/cobi.13633

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The current game could easily be expanded to give the player more control over the game "world" as is required for a given research question, provided it is supported by the underlying model. More broadly, this proof of concept further supports the case for much wider model-game developments (Duthie et al 2021). Within the broad theme of natural resource management, more sophisticated games might involve "open worlds" in which a plethora of decisions and strategies are available to players, situated in rich environments that may be affected by (and respond to) decisions in a variety of ways -including potentially other decision-makers in multiplayer settings.…”

Section: Conclusion and Future Directionmentioning

confidence: 56%

“…In addition to use as an experimental tool, this approach also has great potential for use as a way to source large amounts of decision-making data which may then be used to re-parameterise the underlying models, to better reflect real-world decision making. Given a large enough sample of play sessions with a range of parameter combinations and outcomes, it may be possible to train machine learning algorithms on data collected from this approach, to simulate human decisionmaking under a wide range of conditions (Chabris 2017;Duthie et al 2021). Such algorithms would potentially reflect a range of subtleties of the decision-making process, including balancing multiple objectives in the presence of competing social, financial, and organisational constraints.…”

Section: Potentialmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although this "gamesourcing" or "Gamorithm" (Sipper and Moore 2020) approach has already been widely used in a number of other fields (from crowdsourcing accurate protein-structure models to classifying fluorescence microscopy images, Khatib et al 2011;Sullivan et al 2018), it remains rare in conservation science (but see van den Bergh et al 2021). Thus, model-games can be considered "virtual laboratories" (Duthie et al 2021) to not only test specific hypotheses or predictions, but potentially also as an effective method to source data to parameterise the underlying models based on in-game decisions by real humans.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Models as games: a novel approach for ‘gamesourcing’ parameter data and communicating complex models

Minderman

Duthie

Jones

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Models have become indispensable tools in conservation science in the face of increasingly rapid loss of biodiversity through anthropogenic habitat loss and natural resource exploitation. In addition to their ecological components, accurately representing human decision-making processes in such models is vital to maximise their utility. This can be problematic as modelling complexity increases, making them challenging to communicate and parameterise. Games have a long history of being used as science communication tools, but are less widely used as data collection tools, particularly in videogame form. We propose a novel approach to (1) aid communication of complex social-ecological models, and (2) "gamesource" human decision-making data, by explicitly casting an existing modelling framework as an interactive videogame. We present players with a natural resource management game as a front-end to a social-ecological modelling framework (Generalised Management Strategy Evaluation, GMSE). Players' actions replace a model algorithm making management decisions about a population of wild animals, which graze on crops and can thus lower agricultural yield. A number of non-player agents (farmers) respond through modelled algorithms to the player's management, taking actions that may affect their crop yield as well as the animal population. Players are asked to set their own management goal (e.g. maintain the animal population at a certain level or improve yield) and make decisions accordingly. Trial players were also asked to provide any feedback on both gameplay and purpose. We demonstrate the utility of this approach by collecting and analysing game play data from a sample of trial plays, in which we systematically vary two model parameters, and allowing trial players to interact with the model through the game interface. As an illustration, we show how variations in land ownership and the number of farmers in the system affects decision-making patterns as well as population trajectories (extinction probabilities). We discuss the potential and limitations of this model-game approach in the light of trial player feedback received. In particular, we highlight how a common concern about the game framework (perceived lack of "realism" or relevance to a specific context) are actually criticisms of the underlying model, as opposed to the game itself. This further highlights both the parallels between games and models, as well as the utility of model-games to aid in communicating complex models. We conclude that videogames may be an effective tool for conservation and natural resource management, and that although they provide a promising means to collect data on human decision-making, it is vital to carefully consider both external validity and potential biases when doing so.

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Section: Conclusion and Future Directionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Section: Potentialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Models as games: a novel approach for ‘gamesourcing’ parameter data and communicating complex models

Minderman

Duthie

Jones

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

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show abstract

“…In the process of educating or promoting behavior change, these games are still designed to appeal to a broad audience like an entertainment game. Other goals for serious games have included mediating conflicts, crowdsourcing human computing power, and collecting data on decision‐making (Duthie et al, 2021; Khatib et al, 2011; Redpath et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross‐cultural mobile game evaluation shows improvement in environmental learning, but not behavior

Thomas‐Walters

Veríssimo

2022

Conservat Sci and Prac

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Games have a wide range of potential uses, from mediating conservation conflicts to changing behaviors. However, there have been few impact evaluations of serious games published in the environmental field. We conducted the first cross-cultural evaluation of an environmental mobile game, Save The Purple Frog. In a randomized control trial with both UK and Indian participants, we found very strong evidence that Save The Purple Frog had a positive impact on learning (effect size 0.62, p = 0.0001), but no evidence that it affected behaviors or attitudes. Our study contributes to the evidence base for environmental serious games, demonstrating their potential as an engaging tool for environmental education. We suggest examining the impact of longer gameplay as a future research direction, as well as exploring different gameplay styles.

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Games as experiments to understand why wildlife devaluation may not reduce the number killed

Rudman

Linklater²

2022

Journal for Nature Conservation

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Online multiplayer games as virtual laboratories for collecting data on social‐ecological decision making

Abstract: Online games can improve the collection of data on human decisionmaking in situations relevant to conservation and stakeholder trade-offs.

Cited by 5 publications

References 22 publications

Models as games: a novel approach for ‘gamesourcing’ parameter data and communicating complex models

Models as games: a novel approach for ‘gamesourcing’ parameter data and communicating complex models

Cross‐cultural mobile game evaluation shows improvement in environmental learning, but not behavior

Games as experiments to understand why wildlife devaluation may not reduce the number killed

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