Blue Gold, Game-Based Learning to Encourage Sustainable Consumption: The Case of Mobile Phones

Abstract

The concept of sustainability is different in industry and in nature. In the case of mobile phones, the constant replacement by new models increases waste to ecologically unbearable limits. To encourage responsible and sustainable consumption, we designed an educational game in a role-play format, called Blue Gold. The objective was to make known the use of cobalt in the production of mobile phones and the methods and people involved in its extraction. We present three characters that each participant could become during the game: a Congolese girl, a Congolese boy, or an American boy. Through socio-educational dynamics of experiential learning, 308 undergraduate students and 31 of their teachers participated in the game. We set out to investigate whether knowing the reality of child labor and violence against women happening in cobalt mines could have any impact on consumer behavior, if the effect of the game could delay the desire to purchase a mobile phone or refuse to buy a new one. The results obtained revealed the influence of the role assumed in the game and the gender of the participants. They also revealed that this online role-playing game is effective in encouraging a more sustainable consumption behavior.