Can AI Prompt Humans? Multimodal Agents Prompt Players' Game Actions and Show Consequences to Raise Sustainability Awareness

TL;DR

EcoEcho is a GenAI-powered game using multimodal agents to engage players in sustainability scenarios, significantly boosting their intention to adopt sustainable behaviors and demonstrating the potential of game-based interventions for environmental awareness.

Contribution

The paper introduces EcoEcho, a novel multimodal agent-based game that effectively promotes sustainability awareness through interactive prompts and visible environmental impacts.

Findings

Significant increase in players' intended sustainable behaviors.

Slight improvement in attitudes towards sustainability.

Demonstrates potential of game mechanics to influence real-world actions.

Abstract

Unsustainable behaviors are challenging to prevent due to their long-term, often unclear consequences. Games offer a promising solution by creating artificial environments where players can immediately experience the outcomes of their actions. To explore this potential, we developed EcoEcho, a GenAI-powered game leveraging multimodal agents to raise sustainability awareness. These agents engage players in natural conversations, prompting them to take in-game actions that lead to visible environmental impacts. We evaluated EcoEcho using a mixed-methods approach with 23 participants. Results show a significant increase in intended sustainable behaviors post-game, although attitudes towards sustainability only slightly improved. This finding highlights the potential of multimodal agents and action-consequence mechanics to effectively motivate real-world behavioral changes such as raising environmental sustainability awareness.