Gaming for Earth: Serious games and gamification to engage consumers in pro-environmental behaviours for energy efficiency

Serious games and gamification to engage consumers in pro-environmental behaviours for energy efficiency are in their infancy. To date, despite growing interest and some initial attempts, their potential to engage consumers in energy efficiency behaviours has been understudied. To provide an overview of serious games and gamification to engage individuals in pro-environmental behaviours for energy efficiency, a computer-based search for relevant publications was performed in several databases. After applying the inclusion criteria and removing duplicates, 10 papers were included in this systematic review. Results showed that serious games and gamification have been used in three different areas related to energy efficiency: environmental education, consumption awareness, and pro-environmental behaviours. This review also showed that applied gaming interventions can be used in more than one of these three areas (comprehensive interventions). The main observation to be drawn from this review is that both serious games and gamification can foster energy-saving behaviours and vary widely in terms of type of games and of features that might be appealing and motivating.