Interactive Games to Value Ecosystem Services

Robert Costanza• Chair in Public Policy Crawford School of Public Policy   Australian National University   Canberra ACT 0200, Australia• Editor in Chief, Solutions (www.thesolutionsjournal.org)

Goal: Useful Games

A new approach to valuing ecosystem services.

Integrating:Dynamic Landscape ModelingChoice ModelingInteractive, Multi-Player Games

National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) Ecosystem Services Mid-Cycle Grant MeetingChicago, IL, June 24, 2013

Participants at SESYNC workshop, June 25-28, 2013Karim Chichakly ISEE SystemsRobert Costanza Australian National UniversityVirginia Dale Oak Ridge National LabSteve Farber University of PittsburghDavid Finnigan Independent theatreKat Grigg University of QueenslandScott Heckbert Alberta Innovates Technology FuturesIda Kubiszewski Australian National UniversityPiotr Magnuszewski Center for Systems Solutions, PolandNeal McDonald University of Maryland Baltimore CityRichard Mills Oak Ridge National LabLisa Wainger University of Maryland Center for Environmental ScienceRick Ziegler US EPA, National Center for Environmental Assessment

Other Project ParticipantsTom Fiddaman Ventana SystemsJohn Finnigan CSIRO EcosystemsBeth Fulton CSIROLucas Joppa Microsoft ResearchSteve Polasky University of MinnesotaJochen Renz Australian National UniversityBen Shneiderman University of Maryland, Human-Computer Interaction LabAustin Troy University of Vermont, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics

Interactive Games to Value and Manage Ecosystem ServicesNorth Stradbroke Island, Australia, Dec. 2-6, 2014

Participants:Robert Costanza, Karim Chichakly, Virginia Dale, David Finnigan, Kat Grigg, Ida Kubiszewski, Harry Lee, Shuang Liu, Simone Maynard, Sue Ogilvy, Petina L. Pert, Jochen Renz, Jeremy Russell-Smith, Mike Young, and C. Richard Ziegler

Underlying Landscape

Model

Game Interface

(Gameification)

Player’s decisions

(choice modeling)

Research ResultsBetter Model-Game linkagesInsights into Human Decision-MakingEcosystem Services Values of Communities and IndividualsKnowledge Transfer via Gaming

Conceptual Diagram: Interactive Games to Value Ecosystem Services.

Entertainment(3 billion hours per week spent playing computer games)

Education(learning while playing)

Research(game theory, experimental

economics, resource games, etc.

Uses of Games

IntegratedGames

Ecosystem Services are an inherently transdisciplinary issue.

GUMBO (Global Unified Model of the BiOsphere)

From: Boumans, R., R. Costanza, J. Farley, M. A. Wilson, R. Portela, J. Rotmans, F. Villa, and M. Grasso. 2002. Modeling the Dynamics of the Integrated Earth System and the Value of Global Ecosystem Services Using the GUMBO Model. Ecological Economics 41: 529-560

Springer 2003

Growing the ancient Maya social-ecological system from the bottom up Scott Heckbert, Christian Isendahl, Joel Gunn, Simon Brewer, Vernon Scarborough, Arlen F. Chase, Diane Z. Chase, Robert Costanza, Nicholas Dunning, Timothy Beach, Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, David Lentz and Paul Sinclair

 

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Total Real IncomeEcosystem Services ValueTrade ValueYield Value

Figure 6: Real income of all simulated settlements over time by contributions from agriculture, ecosystem services, and trade value. Ecosystem services is eventually superceded by agriculture, and both by trade around time step 350.

Discrete Choice Modelling (DCM) analyses the choice behaviour of individuals and groups who face discrete alternatives.

The theory and methods were pioneered by Dan McFadden at the University of California, Berkeley. The first practical application (1972) was spectacularly successful and accurate in predicting the uptake of BART. McFadden won the 2000 Riksbank Prize in Honor of Alfred Nobel for his work.

http://www.futureandsimple.com/

CityOne. IBM. 2010.

CityOne

Slide courtesy of Rick Ziegler, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

“CityOne offers players the opportunity to optimize banking, retail, energy and water solutions via an online, sim-style game in which the player is tasked with guiding industries within a city through a series of missions.”

Products so far:

1. Simulation games that integrate research, entertainment, and learning around ecosystem services

In review with Ecosystem Services

2. Games for SustainabilityInvited for submission as a Science Policy Forum

3. Prototype games in development

4. Grants submitted (Laureate and Discovery)

Next Step:

“Game Jam” Workshop at NCEAS, July 7-11, 2014

Will include half game designers and half scientists