The games will be distributed on campus using mobile kiosks for a period of three weeks at a time in a total of six locations (i.e., the “campaign”). The games will not only serve to educate players but will also help us to collect information about how and if games can link to changes in awareness, motivation, and behavior. The kiosks will be placed in six high-traffic areas where people may have a few minutes of leisure to spare, such as coffee shops, food court areas, and/or community living areas in residence halls. We have identified a priority list of locations (Table 1) on campus based on traffic volumes and space to place a kiosk where it will be visible but not impede normal operations, and are currently working with staff at Housing and Food Services on permission and to determine their preferences in locating kiosks. Our goal is that 400-500 players will interact with each of the three kiosks over the entire six-week period.

The exhibit will be promoted (using signage and instructions) at each site to encourage players to engage spontaneously. However, during the six-week period, we will also promote the project using flyers, emails, and newsletter posts directed at departments in close proximity to the kiosks to encourage students, staff, and faculty to look for them, as well as promoting the entire six-week “campaign” via social media and blog posts. Throughout the campaign, there will be a gentle incentive to seek out kiosks and play through games, which is the opportunity to enter a drawing for gift cards.

Although not a final list, game topics that are top candidates as the focus of game development include water pollution, electronic waste, plastics, composting, and energy use. Since the games will be focused on specific environmental issues, this will allow us to strategically reach out to student groups about “adopting” and helping to promote one or more games during the campaign. For example, two student groups on campus that work on issues of water quality that have already committed to assisting in this way for a game related to water pollution. They are the outreach group SEAS (Students Explore Aquatic Science) and UW’s Freshwater Initiative (https://freshwater.uw.edu/about/), a graduate student collective that spearheads research and outreach related to freshwater conservation. As the game topics are finalized (summer 2018), we will reach out to other student and research groups on campus to request their “adoption” of a topical game leading up to and during the campus campaign.

In addition to the focused campaign period, we will also use the kiosks at multiple special events during the year. Planned events include UW’s Sustainability Festival and Earth Day Celebration; however, we anticipate that the kiosks will make an attractive temporary exhibit for additional special events on campus as the project progresses (e.g., opening of the new Burke Museum).  Finally, we will work strategically with project partners and stakeholders (see below) to promote the project and games to students, staff, and faculty across campus that are interested in applying gaming approaches to promote sustainability.

Campus Partners and Stakeholders

The campus unit that we will work most closely with is Housing and Food Services (HFS). We are currently working with them on locations for game kiosks at high-traffic areas with a “captive audience” (e.g., coffee shops, community living spaces in residential halls). In addition to working with HFS on optimal locations and placement of kiosks, we also wish to work closely with them to align game content to support HFS’ sustainability priorities and/or integrate with their current efforts (e.g., meeting composting goals in eating areas).

Students Expressing Environmental Dedication (SEED) are one of the most important RSOs that we will seek to work with, both to help us align the game content with sustainability efforts in residence halls and helping us create content that engages students. Although SEED is currently undergoing an annual change in leadership (see attached letter), we have worked with them as part of the feasibility study and are hopeful that the new leadership will want to continue collaborating.

The Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship (Foster School of Business) is a priority project partner, given our strong desire to engage with entrepreneurs and change-makers at UW on the topic of environmental gaming. During the feasibility study, we engaged on an ad hoc basis with staff and students at the Buerk Center and Foster School of Business who were interested in environmental gaming approaches for promoting sustainability and/or creating businesses in more sustainable ways. For this project, we will work with Buerk Center staff to schedule specific events and opportunities for knowledge exchange, incorporating the games and mobile kiosks that we’ll produce. Some of these opportunities include: sharing knowledge and expertise in green games with classes and students (e.g., making presentations), bringing gaming kiosks to events associated with the annual Alaska Airlines Environmental Innovation Challenge (http://depts.washington.edu/foster/2018-alaska-airlines-environmental-innovation-challenge/), or working with student teams who may want to collaborate on the gaming kiosks project.

The Center for Creative Conservation or C3 (under which Earthgames is housed) was a substantial partner during the feasibility study, helping to promote the game jam and survey. This project is an excellent fit for the mission and goals of C3, and we will again coordinate project activities with C3. We are also coordinating with leadership of Earthgames to share project resources and plan for project longevity. As with the Buerk Center, this will entail scheduling opportunities to intersect at specific points in the project timeline. Based on preliminary meetings with Earthgames leadership, this could include having students in the Earthgames class help with kiosk deployment, assist with beta-testing, and development or updating of games for future versions of the project. If we are required to purchase tablet computers for this project, our plan is to transfer ownership of these to Earthgames at the end of the pilot project to allow broader use over time by students and groups for sustainability or environmental gaming projects.