Protected: BGE Gamification
The Challenge
Paperless billing wasn’t as prevalent in 2019 as it is today—most customers said they wanted it, but that didn’t always translate to action. Public pressure for corporations to practice better environmental stewardship was also increasing. Recognizing the need to bridge the gap between aspiration and action, Exelon’s Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) wanted to communicate its sustainability commitments to customers in a fun and engaging way.
About BGE
As both Baltimore and Maryland’s largest utility provider, BGE services over 1.6 million customers. Like most of Exelon’s local service providers, their iOS and Android apps prioritize customer experience and ease of use.
Our extensive relationship with Exelon includes over 50 separate projects and initiatives over the years, such as iOS refactoring, Exelon rebranding, ComEd Marketplace, Apple Watch apps, and many more.
Our Approach
The timeline to deliver this game was speedy, so our initial approach was to explore and ideate—as much as possible, as early as possible.Â
Along with our opening stakeholder interactions, we prioritized sketch sessions and paper prototyping to iterate as fast and frequently as possible. Luckily, most of our in-office Mindgrubbers were also BGE customers — the perfect audience to guerilla test our paper prototypes.
A Mascot That Maximizes Amusement
Three ideas emerged after countless stakeholder interviews, in-person workshops, and paper prototypes:
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A tiny village, where correct answers would grow and enrich the town
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A circle experience, where task completion allowed users to close rings
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A creature, whom users could customize with prizes won through trivia
The creature concept was the most popular choice; users would grow to care for it and felt the urge to check on its well-being. We quickly brainstormed creature ideas that could encompass BGE’s essence, but also bring life to this green-gamification experience.
What worked with Lumi is that he’s like a blank slate. He’s easy to identify with, there’s room to customize it, and make it more personalized.
Mariko Sakemi, Interactive Design Lead
Gamification = Function + Fun
The ultimate goal of any gamification project is to get gamers to learn in a novel environment. Lumi’s in-game information experience was built around three major components:
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Lumi would provide the gamer with energy-saving tips and quizzes
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Gamers would unlock rewards for daily check-ins to review daily comparisons of energy consumption activities
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Weekly readouts would compare week-to-week energy usage, allowing gamers to monitor their progress over time
Collect them All!
Gamers could score “coins” for checking their usage data and answering Lumi’s questions correctly. With the accrued coins, gamers could buy backgrounds and accessories for their personal Lumi.