The EN-Survival Game: An Environmental Game for Residential Accommodation

Abstract

The significance of using games for educational purposes is well documented in the literature. It has been argued that serious games can draw more engagement and user attention to topics when compared to conventional web or print media, including concepts around energy education. The smarter household project has deployed an energy indoor health monitoring system in 19 UK social housing units, utilizing internet technologies to connect the end-user through tablet devices to multiple interventions (dashboard visualization, application of gamification and serious game). The serious game aimed to help residents understand their energy consumption whilst stimulating energy efficient behaviors towards managing indoor conditions via in-game decisions. This chapter presents our preliminary findings relating to the serious game as an intervention across the 19 households. The game demonstrates potential value to trial participant in terms of how to apply the lessons learned from the in-game scenarios to their everyday activities.