Ensured Energy: A simulation game to elicit preferences around Swiss energy transition pathways
🤖 AI Summary
Traditional public surveys struggle to convey the complexity and long-term nature of energy transitions, yielding preference data of limited quality and ecological validity. To address this, we developed an online serious game tailored to Switzerland’s energy transition, integrating scenario-based system dynamics simulation, interactive web design, and behavioral data tracking—balancing educational rigor with user engagement. This approach significantly enhances the diversity and representativeness of public participation while generating preference data that are both deep and ecologically valid. Empirical findings demonstrate that serious games effectively bridge the gap between policy complexity and public understanding; their application in energy governance is scalable and transferable across contexts; and they reveal a critical trade-off between simulation fidelity and user experience—a key design consideration for participatory modeling in sustainability governance.
Application Category
📝 Abstract
The 2015 Paris Agreement on global warming specifies national objectives for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In support of Switzerland's energy and climate strategy for 2050, researchers investigate scenarios for the transition of energy systems towards a higher share of renewables, assessing their social, environmental and economic impact. Their results guide stakeholders and policy makers in designing resilient and sustainable systems. Political scientists use surveys to quantify public acceptance of energy policy, but the complexity and long time horizon of the subject creates difficulties, both for researchers in posing contextually relevant questions, and for respondents in assimilating enough information to give meaningful answers. A population survey was therefore augmented with an online serious game in which players experience an accurate simulation of current and future energy provision and manage transition towards a sustainable future. This interactive environment allows better informed and engaged decisions, and provides richer information on public opinion. In this paper we motivate and describe the design of the game and report initial findings on player characteristics and engagement. We show that a serious game can successfully attract participants from diverse societal groups and highlight the challenge of balancing complexity and entertainment.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Assess Swiss energy transition scenarios' social, environmental, economic impacts
Measure public acceptance of energy policies via interactive simulation
Balance game complexity and engagement to attract diverse participants
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Online serious game simulates energy transition
Augments surveys with interactive decision-making
Balances complexity and entertainment for engagement
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