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Abstract

Introduction Despite increased awareness and knowledge of climate change, individuals likely lack motivation to pursue climate action. Gamification may be an effective tool to address this. Research Question How does gamifying climate-friendly actions affect the likelihood of engaging in sustainable behaviors and affect support for UBC's Climate Action Plan (CAP)? Methods An online Qualtrics survey assessed UBC students' baseline support for CAP. After random assignment, participants in the experimental group played a three-day climate action game, while the control group received a simplified version of CAP. A post-test measured how each method of interaction with climate action influenced participants' likelihood of engaging in sustainable behaviours and supporting CAP. Results Our analysis found no significant differences in participants’ likelihood of engaging in sustainable behaviours or CAP support between conditions. However, both conditions showed a significant increase in CAP awareness, and an exploratory analysis found a significant positive correlation between game points earned and participants’ intention to engage in future sustainable behaviours. Recommendations Our intervention had several limitations. A future iteration could incorporate stronger incentives, shorten the duration, and use a different platform to enhance engagement. However, gamification still shows promise for facilitating two-way communication between SEEDS and the UBC community. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”