A Gamification Framework for Energy Conservation and Customer Engagement in Smart Cities

The advancements in technology and the increased use of internet, digital business models and Internet of things (IoT) have paved a way for sustainable and inclusive cities that provide their citizens a clean and sustainable environment. Smart solutions of the smart cities focus on making the life of its citizens comfortable but they fail to make their everyday activities motivated in becoming sustainable. This paper proposes a gamification framework that aims to facilitate energy conservation and customer engagement in smart cities. By using game in a non-game context such as in this gamification framework, helps in keeping the fun element of the game intact while achieving the specified learning objective of energy efficiency. The proposed application aims at identifying energy wastages and motivates behavioral changes of the player combining team play, virtual rewards and life simulation. The paper explains various concepts of gamification and differentiates it from game-based learning. It proposes the gamification strategy, game mechanics drivers and motivators, game engine, game architecture, financial rewards and a detailed set of rules for the proposed gamification application. The application targets at promoting awareness and involvement of the players in managing their own resources, choices and behavior for a sustainable development. The paper aims at motivating the citizens and changing their behavior in a desired way.