Raising Awareness about Extreme Rainfall through Gamification Due to climate change, extreme rainfall events will occur more frequently in Amsterdam in the future. At the moment, awareness about the damage these extreme events could cause is minimal, and because water management during extreme rainfall requires a shared approach, “the tragedy of the commons” applies to the issue. In this study the influence of gamification and persuasive design on citizens’ awareness about the topic was investigated by testing the game “Heroes of Rain”. Before the game, the players participated in a survey; the same survey was carried out after they had played the game. The results were compared with the experiences of testing the game and in-depth interviews. While testing the game the players started a conversation, and their answers in the second survey were significantly different and suggested a higher level of awareness. This is in line with the theory of the Game-Based Learning Elevation Model (GEM) which suggests that information exchange after playing games raises awareness. awareness, gamification, natural hazards, extreme rainfall events, persuasive design, citizen empowerment Dymphie Burger (EGEA Amsterdam) Co-authors: Irati Santxo, Jeffrey Gyamfi, Almar Mulder
1. Introduction Due to climate change, societies are getting more vulnerable to extreme weather events. However, exact effects differ at a regional scale (IPCC, 2014). In the Netherlands, the amount of precipitation has increased by 21% from 1906 until 2007, and the intensity of rainfall has raised as well (PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, 2013). This is supported by seven out of the ten most extreme showers, since 1951, having occurred in the last 20 years (Kluck, et al., 2013). Due to the amount of impermeable surface in Amsterdam, the sewerage has to handle most of the rainwater. The sewerage is adjusted to roughly 20 millimetres per hour (Kluck, et al., 2015) and therefore not able to handle a shower with a higher intensity. The excessive rainwater accumulates on the streets, resulting in water nuisance or even damage. However, awareness about these extreme rainfall events is minimal among the citizens of Amsterdam. The minimal management of extreme rainfall (i.e. natural hazards) is
considered a “tragedy of the commons”, as extreme rainfall damages public properties and therefore affects all people. However, due to public ownership, nobody feels responsible to prevent the damage (Tompkins and Adger, 2004). At the moment, gamification is becoming a more and more popular method to raise awareness and engage people (Thiel, 2015). It is used as well to influence behaviour, enhance motivation and improve engagement by applying game metaphors (Marczewski, 2013). An example of gamification that has been used for a long time are grades in schools, or parents rewarding children for preferred behaviour (Nicholson, 2014). In this paper, gamification will be analysed together with persuasive design, a method which attempts an action or behaviour (Fogg, 2009), i.e. becoming aware of the extreme rainfall events. Therefore, the aim of this study is to test how these methods influence awareness and to try to find a way to raise awareness with a simulation game. This game will be used by Amsterdam Rainproof, a project of the governmental organisation that takes care of the whole water cycle in the municipality of Amsterdam. The research question is:
European Geographer 16 | 11/2020
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