Gamifying Rainforest ConservationBy Sawyer West

Rainforest Action Network

Goals Preserving Rainforests Protecting the Climate Defending Human Rights

Activities Transform global food system

“commercial agriculture causes 71% of tropical deforestation” - Climate Land Use Alliance

Minimize Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions

Obstacles

Relativity: People don’t understand how they as an individual can make significant change

Commitment: Rainforest conservation groups often ask people to help by taking action outside of their daily routine (which is hard) Sending a donation Participating in volunteer activity

Few motivations Feeling good about yourself The occasional “thank you”

Gamified Solution

Forest Explorer: an app designed to allow people to help without much change to everyday activities and achieve motivating rewards

Design

Based on Kiip idea which takes simple everyday actions and rewards them

Forest Explorer uses the idea and specializes it towards those actions which assist in conserving rainforests Makes players aware of the significance of the

action and then rewards them for it Designed with XP, levels, challenges and

rewards

Actions

5 things people do everyday that help save rainforests Buy recyclable products Properly recycle certain products Drive efficiently Buy organic foods Buy food locally

Game Mechanics

XP system: Actions translate to acres savedLevels: Accumulation of acres saved unlocks

new featuresRewards: Achievement, Greater access to app

features, good feeling from being helpfulDaily Challenges: Draw players back with

something new each day

XP System

Each of these actions translates to “acres saved” Drive efficiently: 0.2 Acres Saved Buy organic foods: 0.05 Acres Saved

Accrues over time as a form of XPAttaches a “helpful” feeling to simple actionsTakes the “good feeling” people get from

helpful behavior and uses it to motivates future behavior

XP System

Summary Charts Weekly: “This week you saved 1.3 acres of

rainforest” Overall: “Overall you saved 5.2 acres of

rainforest” Comparative: “This week you saved 37% more

acres of rainforest than the previous week” Displays mastery We all feel good when we outdo ourselves

Levels and Rewards

After saving a set amount of acres, players unlock the ability to view and explore a virtual rainforest Size and activity scales with acres saved 5 acres: small area, low diversity of life 15 acres: larger area, wider diversity of life Player may view information about life in their

rainforest or press a “play” button to listen to rainforest sounds

Levels and Rewards

Plays to the explorer and achiever groups Rewards players with information, access, a new

sense of meaning in their actions and usable stuffMore acres saved = more rewards unlocked

Soothing forest music More to explore/discover in virtual rainforest More mini-games within the app

Forest Explorer can be updated with new rewards along these lines which will keep the app relevant

Challenges

Each day, players get a challenge of something they can do to earn bonus acres

Must be accomplished by a deadlineThese can either be more difficult versions of

simple actions or they can be actions the players must take outside their daily routine to accomplish

Examples: Avoid products with palm oil Participate in volunteer opportunities

Team Efforts

Forest Explorer gives each players a ID # (random string of 8 – 10 numbers)

Players may connect into teams using their ID #

In a team, acres saved is pooled together and players may view collective efforts as well as their individual percentage of the total Creates a social aspect and provides a window

for positive competition Plays to socializers

Versatility

Design can be adapted to any natural environment

Helpful actions and rewards would have to be adapted to the specific environment

App also provides an additional window where players can send donations