Using Availability Heuristics in Game Design to Introduce Children to Energy Sufficient Behaviours at Home

Parents looking to foster more energy sufficient behaviours in their children struggle to have their child maintain these behaviours unsupervised. Our research indicates that in order for the child to maintain these behaviours, s/he must perceive him/herself as an eco conscious individual. We propose that increasing a child’s ability to firstly recognise eco-friendly behaviours and secondly, recollect them, is likely to yield a greater affinity for habitual energy sufficient behaviours. This paper describes a first prototype game, whose interface employs availability heuristics and other persuasive design elements to achieve this goal.