Limited business case regarding the IEE2007-project ENERCITIES
Internal report of the project ENERCITIES
Final version
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COLOPHON
Internal report of the IEE2007-project ENERCITIES
Title ‘Limited business case regarding the IEE2007-project ENERCTIES’
Final version (20090109)
Report written by consortium member Erik KNOL (Qeam)
E-mail: info@ENERCITIES.eu
Internet: www.ENERCITIES.eu
Copyright © 2008 ENERCITIES consortium.
All rights reserved.
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CONTENT
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.1.
Focus of this document ........................................................................................................................ 3
1.2.
Focus of the project ENERCITIES ...................................................................................................... 3
Context of ENERCITIES ............................................................................................................................... 4
2.1.
Energy, energy saving and renewable energy policy focus ................................................................. 4
2.2.
Project-relevant energy-related themes & concepts ............................................................................. 5
2.3.
Education, youngsters and serious gaming .......................................................................................... 6
2.4.
Energy games ....................................................................................................................................... 7
Projections of stakeholders’ needs (high-level) ............................................................................................. 8
3.1.
Online youngsters using the game ....................................................................................................... 9
3.2.
Students ................................................................................................................................................ 9
3.3.
Education institutes ............................................................................................................................ 10
3.4.
Consortium ENERCITIES ................................................................................................................. 11
3.5.
Policy makers ..................................................................................................................................... 11
SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threads ........................................................................... 12
4.1.
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 12
4.2.
Internal strengths ................................................................................................................................ 12
4.3.
Internal weaknesses ........................................................................................................................... 13
4.4.
External opportunities ........................................................................................................................ 13
4.5.
External threads ................................................................................................................................. 14
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 14
Appendix 1: screenshots of various energy games ............................................................................................... 16
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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1.
Focus of this document
This document describes limitedly business case elements regarding the IEE2007-project
ENERCITIES and its most important deliverables: a game-based learning platform (serious game), an
education toolbox and a community facility.
The purpose of this document is to offer a project-internal reference for project activities - especially
for work package 2 activities - dealing with the detailed definition of the serious game, the education
toolbox and the community platform.
Chapter 1.2 introduces the project ENERCITIES. Chapter 2 gives high-level information regarding the
context of ENERCITIES: energy, energy saving and renewable energy (chapter 2.1); energy themes &
concepts (chapter 2.2); education, youngsters and serious gaming (chapter 2.3.); energy games
(chapter 2.4). Projections of stakeholders’ high-level needs are given in chapter 3. Chapter 4 indicates
a high-level SWOT-analysis1. The last chapter points conclusions.
1.2.
Focus of the project ENERCITIES
Project ENERCITIES offers a game-based learning platform (serious game) where young people in
Europe can experience energy-related implications (e.g. energy consumption, energy savings,
renewable energy, energy & environment).
Serious gaming is the application of gaming technology in combination with learning methodologies
to solutions of problems and/or regarding challenges faced by businesses, education institutes and
other organizations. Serious games include games used for educational, persuasive, political, or health
purposes.
The heart of the platform will be group competitions to create and expand virtual cities dealing with
pollution, energy shortages, energy reduction plans, renewable energy projects etc. The platform is
attractive for youngsters: advanced on energy topics, teamwork-oriented, competition-based and
community-driven.
Education programmes are integrated with the game-based learning platform via a to be developed
education toolbox. This integration will be piloted in 5 education institutions (located in various
countries in Europe). European rollout of the platform - accompanied with an education toolbox - is
facilitated among 50 education institutions. Events are organized to share experiences.
The project makes youngsters via competition aware of energy-related implications and will have the
ability to change their energy attitudes and behaviour. Education institutions will have state-of-the-art
and attractive learning tools to upgrade their education programmes. The duration of the project is 36
months in order to maximize the rollout and the usage of the project’s infrastructure.
1
SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threads.
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2. CONTEXT OF ENERCITIES
ENERCITIES deals primarily with the development of a serious game as an advanced elearning and
awareness-stimulation tool for - in principle - youngsters between 15 and 25 years old. This chapters
describes briefly some aspects of the context of project ENERCITIES. In chapter 2.1 energy, energy
saving and renewable energy policy attention will be introduced. Chapter 2.2 deals with projectrelevant energy-related themes & concepts. Chapter 2.3 describes the topics education & youngsters
and serious gaming. Energy games are shortly discussed in chapter 2.4
2.1.
Energy, energy saving and renewable energy policy focus
Energy, energy saving and renewable energy form the thematic backbone of the project
ENERCITIES. From global, European and national policy perspectives focus is aimed at
sustainability, energy saving and renewable energy in order to: 1. take action regarding climate
change, 2. be less independent from current (traditional) energy sources and structures in our society
(especially natural resources like petroleum and natural gas), and 3. strive for a society based on a
balance between sustainability, wellbeing and welfare. The figure below gives an impression of the
energy consumption in the EU27 per fuel type over a period of 16 years. The next figure shows a
projection regarding energy requirements for the coming years. It is expected that due to the recent
European recession figures (Q4 2008) energy requirements could lead to different realistic scenarios.
Figure 1: energy consumption in EU27 by fuel (in Mtoe)
(source: Eurostat, May 2008; note: renewables not including electricity)
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Figure 2: scenarios regarding primary energy requirements of EU27 by fuel (left figure)
and energy and carbon intensity indicators of EU27 (right figure)
(source: EU27 Energy Baseline Scenario to 2030 of the European Commission, April 2008)
On European and national level energy-related targets are defined in order to meet sustainability and
energy goals. A European Commission approach is the Intelligent Energy – Europe programme (IEE):
“There are many untapped opportunities to save energy and encourage the use of renewable energy
sources in Europe, but market conditions do not always help. The Intelligent Energy - Europe
programme is the EU's tool for funding action to improve these conditions and move us towards a
more energy intelligent Europe.”2 One of the approaches is to raise awareness and to influence the
attitudes of citizens (and companies) regarding energy consumption, energy saving, renewable energy
and sustainability. Example: Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign of the European Commission3.
Important target group is youngsters; especially during their school time period it is possible to embed
the topic of energy consumption, energy saving, renewable energy and sustainability in curricula.
Additionally, young people form the cornerstone of future energy settings in Europe (e.g. embrace
energy saving programmes; stimulate and implement renewable energy; strive for a sustainable
society)4. Education institutions (vocational level) have possibilities to train and to stimulate young
people to adopt energy-aware routines.
2.2.
Project-relevant energy-related themes & concepts
Regarding the ENERCITIES game (and related education toolbox) a set of energy-related themes &
concepts should be embedded. The table below gives a set of energy-related themes & concepts that
are to be considered by the consortium. Themes & concepts considerations are related to the target
groups (mainly youngsters); the needed educational character of the game (and related education
2
See http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/. Remark: the project ENERCITIES is co-funded via the Intelligent Energy – Europe programme.
3
Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign: a European Campaign (2005 – 2008) to raise awareness and change the landscape of energy. It
wants to support citizens as European actors committed to sustainable energy. More info: http://www.sustenergy.org.
4
See e.g. EC (2006), Education on Energy - Teaching tomorrow's energy consumers, publication of European Commission DG TREN. EC
(2004), ManagEnergy reflection document on a EU-wide co-operation of local actors on sustainable energy education, publication of
European Commission – see www.managenergy.net.
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toolbox); the ability of the game (and related toolbox) to change attitudes of the target groups’
individuals regarding energy consumption, energy efficiency and renewable energy; and the
complexities of embedding certain themes & concepts in the game.
Energy & Society
Energy, Technologies, Efficiency & Transition
Energy & socio-economic aspects (e.g. welfare, well-
Renewable energy (e.g. wind energy, solar heat, solar PV
being, social acceptance, not-in-my-backyard syndrome)
electricity, thermal energy for heat and electricity, bio mass
Energy security (e.g. imports, exports, supply guarantee,
into electricity, water / hydro power, osmosis)
diversify, natural resources, geopolitics, energy storage,
Energy saving & efficiency (e.g. powering appliances and
technologies, costs, electricity network, energy
systems (industrial / household), transport (efficiency),
democratization)
heating / cooling, light)
Energy & economics (e.g. economic investment,
Energy transition (e.g. sustainable transport, sustainable
performance, budget)
electricity, sustainable heating / cooling, green-house-gasses
Energy, sustainability & environment (e.g. natural
emission reduction, energy storage, energy security)
resources, environment, standard of living, green-housegasses emissions, health, pollution)
Table 1: energy-related themes & concepts to be considered
2.3.
Education, youngsters and serious gaming
Education institutes are instantly enhancing their education programmes in order to balance between
the (national) learning norms, innovations on learning and the (learning) interests of students.
eLearning is seen as a education-technology domain to introduce modern ICT-enabled tools to offer
non-traditional learning methods. Examples of the policy relevance of elearning are the European
Commission eLearning Programme5 and the European information portal eLearningEurope6.
Traditional education programmes (e.g. knowledge-oriented learning; book-based education; class
lectures) do not match the information processing styles, communication and social routines of young
people anymore. These days teenagers could be characterised as follows: multitasking, cross-media
oriented, learning-on-the-job, internet-driven, visual-oriented, virtual community-oriented7.
5
European Commission eLearning Programme is a programme for the effective integration of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) in education and training systems in Europe (2004 - 2006). Important themes: to equip schools with multimedia
computers, to train European teachers in digital technologies, to develop European educational services and software, and to speed up the
networking of schools and teachers. See: http://ec.europa.eu/education/archive/elearning.
6
elearningEuropa.info is an online portal established by the European Commission to promote the use of multimedia technologies and
Internet at the service of education and training. The site offers specific information, services and resources for four basic areas: schools,
higher education, the world of employment and lifelong learning. See: http://www.elearningeuropa.info.
7
See e.g. Keane. & Fam (2006), Media: through the eyes of young adults. Journal of Promotion Management, vol. 11, pp. 155-174. Simon
& Merrill (1997), The next generation of news consumers: childrená news media choices in an election campaign. Political
Communication, vol. 14, pp. 307-321.Wong et al. (2007), Serious video game effectiveness, pp. 49-55.
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Serious gaming8 can be seen as a next phase in digital learning instruments and awareness creation9. In
general, serious games (with learning and awareness objectives) use more in-depth the digital
community interests and the computer gaming interests of people (and especially young people in the
age range of 15-25 years). A definition of serious gaming is: “the application of gaming technology,
process, and design to the solution of problems faced by businesses and other organizations. Serious
games promote the transfer and cross fertilization of game development knowledge and techniques in
traditionally non-game markets such as training, product design, sales, marketing, etc“10. The table
below gives a distinction between serious games and entertainment games.
Serious games
Entertainment games
Task versus rich experience
Problem solving in focus
Rich experiences preferred
Focus
Important elements of learning
To have fun
Assumptions necessary for
Simulations
workable simulations
Should reflect natural (i.e. non-
Communication
perfect) communication
Simplified simulation
Communication is often perfect
Table 2: differences between entertainment games and serious games11
A respectable serious game concept should have: certain level of complexity in challenges and
solution directions, adjustment options to increase/decrease complexity in challenges and solution
directions depending on user profiles and learning progress, level of involvement over time, degree of
“realistic” experiences (immersion; learning), competition options among groups of young people.
Additionally, elearning tools and serious gaming offer also possibilities for distance learning, learning
at home, and - indirectly - long life learning. In other words: learning experiences can be offered in
other places than education institutions and on different moments than the opening hours of education
institutions.
2.4.
Energy games
With respect to (serious) energy games in principle two funding-related groups are distinguished: the
public-funded games and the industry-driven games (and a combination of these two groups). Gaming
dimensions are e.g.: age the gamers and “seriousness” of the game (richness, complexity, stickiness,
8
A definition: “a mental contest, played with a computer in accordance with specific rules, that uses entertainment to further government or
corporate training, education, health, public policy, and strategic communication objectives.” From: Zyda (2005), From visual simulation
to virtual reality to games, No. 9. IEEE Computer Society, pp. 2532.
9
See e.g.: Connolly & Stansfield (2007), From e-learning to games-based e-learning: using interactive technologies in teaching an IS
course, International Journal of Information Technology and Management, vol. 6 (2/3/4), pp. 188-208. Fogg (2003), Persuasive
technology: using computers to change what we think and do, Amsterdam, Morgan Kaufmann.
10
University of Skövde (2007), Serious Games – an overview, report written by Susi, Johannesson and Backlund.
11
University of Skövde (2007), Serious Games – an overview, report written by Susi, Johannesson and Backlund.
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educational etc). Although the consortium of ENERCITIES has not analysed the complete (serious)
gaming market (with respect to energy games), the overview below gives a good example of the
relative positions of some (serious) games dealing with energy efficiency and renewable energy and
the projected position of the ENERCITIES serious game.
Sim City Societies
E NERCITIES
Level of “seriousness”
(richness, complexity, educational)
high
BBC Climate Challenge
EnergyVille (Chevron)
medium
V Gas 3D house
ElektroCity
E EA Eco-Agent
Mission BluePlanet - Klima-Quiz
Turn It All Off
Honoloko 3D
WWF PandaDroom
WWF Footprint
KeepCoolCity
low
PowerScout
Geoterra
BioValley Racer
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50+
Target group (age)
Figure 3: relative position of energy-related “games”
Some of these games are public-funded games (e.g. funded by the European Commission or national
governments). Industry-driven games are (partly) initiated by companies (e.g. companies active in the
energy sector like Chevron). One off the best-known commercial games is SimCity Societies.
Appendix 1 shows screenshots of various energy games.
With respect to the above-given overview of energy-related games, the ENERCITIES game can be
seen as an epistemic game. These games are “are computer games that can help players learn to think
like engineers, urban planners, journalists, lawyers, and other innovative professionals, giving them
the tools they need to survive in a changing world. When students play epistemic games, they
participate in simulations of a society that they might someday inhabit. These games help them to
develop ways of thinking and knowing that are valued in the world, giving them a way to imagine who
they might someday become”12.
3. PROJECTIONS OF STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS (HIGH-LEVEL)
This chapter shows projections of the stakeholders’ needs (high-level) regarding project ENERCITIES
and its deliverables: a game-based platform, an education toolbox (both focusing on energy-related
topics), and a community facility. The following stakeholders are recognized:
1. Online youngsters using the game;
12
Shaffer (2005), Epistemic Games, Journal of Online Education, innovateonline.info. Including: http://epistemicgames.org/eg/.
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2. Students using the game as part of the education programme;
3. Education institutes (potentially) adopting the game as part of their education programme;
4. Consortium ENERCITIES itself;
5. Policy makers dealing with energy and/or education innovation.
3.1.
Online youngsters using the game
One target group is the so-called indirect youngsters; these youngsters will find the game on the
internet and will play it independently. These youngsters are not specifically linked to an education
institution in order to play the ENERCITIES game. The table below gives the most relevant highlevels needs that are identified.
Perspective
Most relevant high-level needs
From marketing perspective
Youngsters are strongly influenced by their online peers and websites they respect. It is
essential that ENERCITIES is able to market the game via peer-to-peers contacts and
respected websites (e.g. internet forums).
Youngsters can be seen as swarms on the internet. What is essential is that these
youngsters stay interested in ENERCITIES (the concept, the game, the organisation).
ENERCITIES needs to find ways to get strong involvement and commitment of these
youngsters (e.g. community building via the ENERCITIES community & forum facility).
To trigger the project and to facilitate involvement of youngsters with ideas, an online
community site related to the game building process could be offered.
The game is playable with limited and easy-to-understand steps. Low entry barriers to
play the game.
From game and learning
Without an educational setting (read: education institutes) the game is attractive and
perspective
understandable to play and offers learning experiences. The game should be challenging.
Youngsters should have continuous interest in the game by offering e.g. different levels,
competitions, user adjustable settings, high scores, less known energy themes and
concepts, blogs etc.
It is suggested to offer youngsters - to a certain degree - tools to adjust the “energy”
parameters of the game, in order to maximise the learning experiences of the game.
Table 1: online youngsters using the game
3.2.
Students
Students are those youngsters who will play the game in an educational setting. In other words: the
education institution has adopted the game and its related education toolbox. Typically, the age range
of these students is 25-25 years. The table below gives the most relevant high-levels needs that are
identified.
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Perspective
Most relevant high-level needs
From game and learning
Modern game play and visualisation. Game play content is challenging.
perspective
The game is playable with limited and easy-to-understand steps. Low entry barriers to
play the game.
Students should have continuous interest in the game by offering e.g. different levels,
competitions, user adjustable settings, high scores, less known energy themes and
concepts, blogs etc.
It is suggested to offer students - to a certain degree - tools to adjust the “energy”
parameters of the game, in order to maximise the learning experiences of the game.
Table 2: students
3.3.
Education institutes
Education institutions are those institutions that are willing to embed the game and the related
education toolbox in existing curricula. As mentioned in the initial project plan, the students do not
need a specific educational background in energy, technology or science. All kinds of educational
departments should be able to embed the instruments of ENERCITIES. The table below gives the
most relevant high-levels needs that are identified.
Perspective
Most relevant high-level needs
From marketing perspective
The consortium needs to make a marketing package (including statements of involved
education institutions using the game and the education toolbox), which can be used by
education institutions: 1. to inform internally decision makers (higher management,
education programme managers, teachers) about the implications of the game and related
education toolbox; 2. to inform peers of education institutions regarding the implications
of the game and the related education toolbox.
From game and learning
perspective; and “energy”
parameter perspective
The game has an educational character.
It is suggested to offer education institutions (teachers) (and to a certain degree the
students) in-game tools to adjust the “energy” parameters of the game, in order to
maximise the learning experiences of the game. Example of Paladin Studios: adjusted
energy parameters based on scenarios of VIPs like Dutch innovation/energy prof. Wubbo
Ockels and Al Gore.
The education toolbox offers education institutes suggestions, tools (and content) to
embed energy-related education materials in their curriculum13.
13
ENERCITIES consortium concluded that it is less opportune to collect, re-organize and distribute (existing) energy-related education
materials, since it is expected that each country and each education institution has its own routines and education materials related to
energy, renewable energy and energy efficiency. As an alternative, it offers an education toolbox. This toolbox gives education institutions
information and tips how to embed energy-related topics in the curriculum and how to embed the ENERCITIES game in the curriculum.
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From classroom and student
Teachers (or school administrators) have in-game tools to define students and groups of
perspective
students in the game in order to monitor their game and learning progresses.
From ICT (management)
The game is playable on computers available in the education institute (as from mid
perspective
2009). The consortium would like to maximize the state-of-the-art in order to rollout a
game that - from game play, interface and technology perspective – will be attractive
during the rollout years 2009 and 2010 (and further). This means that 2D interfaces are
not preferred. Minimal computer system requirements are not defined yet.
The game should have limited (or acceptable) impact on ICT (management) processes. It
is questionable whether or not the game is a stand-alone executable (with internet
connections) or a browser-based game. Stand-alone executables have more impact on
ICT (management) processes. Nevertheless, the game should be seen as a state-of-the-art
education tool, which also deserves local installation considerations (like other respected
education software).
Table 3: education institutes
3.4.
Consortium ENERCITIES
The consortium ENERCITIES operates the rollout of the game during the project’s lifetime of 3 years.
In principle, the consortium would like to consider the continuation of the project after its lifetime.
The table below gives the most relevant high-levels needs that are identified.
Perspective
Most relevant high-level needs
From marketing and rollout
The consortium needs tools to add education institutions and to offer education institutes
perspective
functionality to manage their own game environment (e.g. students, groups, local
statistics etc).
From administrator and
The consortium needs the tools to monitor and manage the usage of the game (e.g.
management perspective
individual level, education institute level).
From game content and
The consortium needs the tools to adjust (to a certain degree) the game content and game
“energy” parameter perspective
engine-related “energy” parameters. See the above-mentioned suggestion of Paladin
Studios (chapter 3.3). In this way the consortium will not be a part of scientific &
political debates regarding certain (controversial) parameters related to e.g. peak oil, wind
energy efficiencies, nuclear energy. These debaters (scientists, politicians, societal
groups) can be invited to create their own energy scenarios based on their findings &
facts with respect to the used “energy” parameters in the game.
Table 4: consortium ENERCITIES
3.5.
Policy makers
For the project-relevant policy makers (e.g. European Commission IEE) it is valuable to observe the
implications of the instruments of ENERCITIES (game, education toolbox, community facilty). The
table below gives the most relevant high-levels needs that are identified.
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Perspective
Most relevant high-level needs
From monitoring and policy-
Statistics regarding the usage of the game, indication of the learning performances of
making perspective
groups of users, and changes in attitudes regarding energy, energy saving and renewable
energy.
Feedback regarding the follow-up and expansion potentials and plans of project
ENERCITIES.
Table 5: policy makers
4. SWOT: STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES AND THREADS
4.1.
Introduction
This chapter describes briefly the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threads regarding project
ENERCITIES and its deliverables as defined during the initiation moments of the project (month 1 –
month 3). Strengths relate to the internal positive points of the project and its projected deliverables.
Weaknesses relate to internal negative points. Opportunities have to do with the external chances in
the “market”. Threads relate to external forces that could or will have a negative impact on the project
and its outcomes.
4.2.
Internal strengths
Perspective
Internal strengths
Consortium
The project is co-funded by the European Commission. This gives ENERCITIES (and its
serious game) prestige and therefore better opportunities to penetrate the market.
The consortium has a variety of project-relevant consortium partners: education
institutions, energy agency, game developer, and innovation expert.
Serious game
The serious game will use advanced technologies and constructions to embed real-life
data in the game, to have a multi-level game play, to have abilities to facilitate
competitions etc. The serious game will have a start-of-the-art character.
Since the game uses various real-life oriented “energy” parameters, ENERCITIES could
become involved in scientific & political debates regarding certain (controversial)
parameters related to e.g. peak oil, wind energy efficiencies, nuclear energy (see chapter
3.4). The consortium offers tools to adjust (to a certain degree) the game content and
game engine-related “energy” parameters.
Education toolbox
Due to internet, sites like Wikipedia and Creative Commons concept the development
and sharing of educational content will boost. With the education toolbox ENERCITIES
will not offer (substantial) content, but a tool to funnel education materials in relation
with the topic energy and the serious game.
Community facility
The community will give extra dimensions for followers and users of the game (and
related education toolbox). The community facility is able to mobilize large groups of
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youngsters (students) and teachers to discuss elements of the game (and the education
toolbox).
Rollout and implementation
Education institutions are part of the consortium. They have strong abilities to support the
European rollout of the game and education toolkit among education institutions. The
European network of the education institutes is large.
Table 6: internal strengths
4.3.
Internal weaknesses
Perspective
Internal weaknesses
Consortium
The consortium has limited resources regarding the marketing of the serious game and its
related toolbox. Nevertheless, the European network of the education institutes is large.
Serious game
The serious game has to compete with public-funded, industry-funded and commercial
games. The ENERCITIES game is ambitious in comparison with the budget of the
project.
Education toolbox
The boundaries of the education toolbox are not defined yet. Therefore, the actual added
value of the education toolbox is not fully clear for the moment.
Community facility
Community facility could need substantial moderator and admin capacity.
Rollout and implementation
The rollout should be done in close connection with all involved education institutes in
order to prevent lack of implementation capacity and/of planning due to reasons like:
holidays, lack of management backing of the education.
Impact
As mentioned in the project plan it is not possible to measure the causal relation between
the intervention of the project (read: rollout and implementation of the game and
education toolbox) and the real-life energy reduction per student (youngster) over a
period of time expressed in e.g. percentages or kWh per unit of time. However, the
consortium members will ask students from the involved education institutions to monitor
their energy usage of a period of time.
Table 7: internal weaknesses
4.4.
External opportunities
Perspective
External opportunities
Serious game
Serious gaming is the next phase in elearning and elearning innovation. Gaming is the
next phase in marketing and communication in order to reach youngsters with a message
and to influence their awareness (and attitudes).
Education toolbox
Education toolboxes will play stronger roles (the coming years) in order to manage and
funnel the vast amount of educational content regarding “energy” freely available for
education institutions.
Community facility
Strong opportunities due to the viral spin-offs by using ENERCITIES community facility
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and other internet-based communication platforms and communities.
Rollout and implementation
In the market there is strong interests for education packages (based on elearning
principles) dealing with energy, energy saving and renewable energy.
Table 8: external opportunities
4.5.
External threads
Perspective
External threads
Serious game
Serious gaming is hot and the market (public funded, industry-driven) grows fast. It could
be expected that serious competition pops-up regarding a serious game dealing with
energy topics and focused on European youngsters.
Education toolbox
The market of content management and digital library systems and Wiki’s grows fast. It
could be expected that the education toolbox to be developed has to compete with
smarter, more complete tools to organize and share energy-related education materials.
Community facility
As introduced earlier: youngsters can be seen as swarms over the internet. It could be
expected that at a certain moment the community facility is not hot/attractive anymore for
youngsters, since other forums and community facilities are more attractive (and less
focused on the serious subject of energy and society).
Rollout and implementation14
The limited capacity of the technical infrastructure of schools (including personnel and
facilities).
Institutional and professional factors (including the organisation of time and space in the
school, cultures of collaboration/knowledge sharing, traditions of ‘best practice’ in lesson
planning, and classroom rituals).
The individual teachers’ personal experience of games play, and their personal and
professional identities as teachers.
The pervading cultural expectations of children’s attitudes to and expertise in playing
computer games.
Table 9: external threads
5. CONCLUSION
Project ENERCITIES offers a game-based learning platform (serious game) where young people in
Europe can experience energy-related implications (e.g. energy consumption, energy savings,
renewable energy, energy & environment). This document describes as a project-internal reference
limitedly business case elements (context, stakeholder needs, SWOT) regarding the project
ENERCITIES and its most important deliverables: a game-based learning platform (serious game),
education toolbox and community facility.
14
Based on the input of: Coventry University Enterprises for Digital Central (2006), Serious Games: a ‘State of the Market’ review.
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With respect tot the context of ENERCITIES 4 main areas are distinguished: 1. energy, energy saving
and renewable energy policy attention; 2. project-relevant energy-related themes & concepts; 3.
education & youngsters and serious gaming and 4. energy games. Looking at these areas it could be
stated that the ENERCITIES consortium has the right momentum to develop and rollout a state-of-theart energy-focused educational game.
With respect to the (high-level) needs of stakeholders five stakeholder groups are distinguished: 1.
online youngsters using the game; 2. students using the game as part of the education programme; 3.
education institutes (potentially) adopting the game as part of their education programme; 4.
consortium ENERCITIES itself; and 5. policy makers dealing with energy and/or education
innovation). The projected high-level needs offer fundaments to define the detailed functionalities of
the game, the education toolbox and the community facility.
The high-level SWOT-analysis shows the project-related challenges looking at the internal and
external aspects and drivers potentially influencing ENERCITIES, its ambitions and its outcomes.
During the detailed definition of (the rollout of) the game, the education toolkit and the community
facility these challenges need to be confronted.
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APPENDIX 1: SCREENSHOTS OF VARIOUS ENERGY GAMES
BBC Climate Challenge
Eco Agents
PowerScout
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Honoloko
Mission BluePlanet
KeepCoolCity
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V Gas
EnergyVille
GeoTerra
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WindRacer
WWF Footprint
Valley Racer
WWF PandaDroom
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Turn It All Off
ElektroCity
SimCity Societies
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