I'll admit it, I'm a bit of an Image Labeler addict. There's something about the gratification and validation you get when someone agrees with you and you're rewarded for it. Now imagine Image Labeler played on a large scale, imagine how many images a day Google labels, all through the consensus of thousands of strangers across the globe connected by a simple, little game.

Massive multiplayer games can harness the power of collaboration and competition to create value. Here at Beanstockd, we use large-scale multiplayer competition to reduce a community's green footprint and inform the community about each individual's contribution in real time. Right now we are brainstorming ways to take our learnings from Image Labeler and apply them to the Beanstockd game to find a way to further leverage collaborative community effort to create immediate, tangible value. We're open to your suggestions!

2008 ended with a cliffhanger: We'd just wrapped up our first beta test and were preparing to survey players on their gaming experience.This week the results are in, and we've got answers to questions that will determine the updates we make for version 2.

When we started developing the Beanstockd concept, one of the first questions we asked ourselves was: What will incentivize an individual to daily log and track his lifestyle habits? We considered several forms of incentive such as social pressure from the community, entertainment value and reward. Survey results showed that overall, the strongest form of incentive among our players was the "desire to beat the competition." Not surprisingly, in this green competition the majority of our respondents stayed engaged because of their desire to cream the opposing team. One player responded "[The game] was fun, mainly because I am super competitive."

Interestingly enough, a large proportion of players said they regularly and honestly logged and tracked actions because they were curious to find out how 'green' they actually were. One player said, "I wasn't compelled to cheat. I didn't because I wanted to see a more accurate outcome of all of my actions." Another player responded, "I liked the fact that we could input our actions throughout the day and see what we're accomplishing."

In the Beanstockd Game, a player's points are a representation of his environmental footprint. We hadn't expected this form of incentive to have as much influence as it did on player engagement.

We asked our players if and what they learned about their personal lifestyles when playing the game. Trumping a few flat-out "nothing"s we got many positive responses. One player wrote, "I do a lot of green things without realizing it, so that was good." Another responded that she needed to make some lifestyle changes, "I really need to start carrying reusable bags and ditch the plastic, big time. And stop leaving the lights on for my cat, oops."

We found the most disagreement when it came to the length of the competition. A Beanstockd Game competition cycle is one month long, however in this test we decided to shorten the period to one week to gauge the level of engagement in the game over time. Some players said that one week is much too short of a competition cycle. One player stated, "I lost interest, the game needs to be more addicting, one month would be better."

Whereas another player responded, "One month sounds entirely too long. I think a week is the perfect amount of time. It's enough time to get into it but not quite enough time to get bored and stop playing if you really want to win. It also allows time for people to change their habits and become more green." We've decided to run our upcoming test for a period of one month.

That's just the start. Next week Angela will fill you in on more results from our beta test surveys.

We've split Beanstockd's 25+ members into two teams (Team Wigglesworth v. Team Apley) which are competing against each other over the next five days for a grand prize (baked goods from New York's finest green bakery and a special prize for the individual with the most points at the end of the competition period.) Post-competition, we'll run focus groups and survey all players on their user experience.

We'll glean important initial data from this mini-test and answers to some of our biggest questions such as:

1. Which is stronger incentive to play: material reward, team motivation, or competition against people you know?
2. How's the user interface? Is it intuitive and informative? Are there any elements that are confusing or distracting?
3. What is the ideal length of the competition period?
4. Did players feel inclined to cheat? Did they cheat?
5. Did the game itself incentivize players to actively incorporate new, environmentally conscious actions into their daily lives?

The results will be in next week. Stay tuned for Angela's report on the results of our beta test.

I'll leave you with an incredible trailer video for our game created by the guys behind BeatweenCreative.

The reality of our current economic crisis has hit corporations hard and is now starting to affect the American consumer. Reports on this year's Black Friday show that the annual post-Thanksgiving shopper has a new attitude, one that is cautious about what and how much is bought. According to an article in the New York Times friday&st=cse, "this year there were more shoppers than shopping bags. Even many die-hard Black Friday shoppers -- the ones who camp out on sidewalks overnight to be first through the doors -- said they were cutting back."

It's clear that Americans are cutting back on spending and on consumption in general. Households are looking to find new ways to save on travel, food, utilities and other expenses. Likewise, companies large and small are reducing costs by cutting jobs or slashing marketing budgets. Everyone is preparing for hard times ahead.

Today's big news (recession!) made us contemplate the potential effect of the economic downturn on the budding green sector of our economy, on media, on new tech ventures, and of course, on Beanstockd.

In the past two years, social responsibility has become an increasingly important issue to both major institutions and individuals, and we launched Beanstockd to promote the cause by taking a new approach to motivating environmentally-conscious behavior through our media and application. Yet the urgency of this economic crisis could very well divert attention away from social responsibility, making it less of a priority when it comes to making crucial lifestyle and operational decisions. We wondered, could this situation diminish the relevance of the Beanstockd application?

The answer is: probably not. Financial pressure will inevitably drive Americans to change the way they live their lives. The very stimulus that pushed us to change our daily habits while abroad in Paris - consciously reducing waste and consumption in order to save on bills - is now a serious consideration for all Americans.

The Beanstockd concept is exceptionally relevant now as our world moves into an era of economic distress. In the United States and across the globe, individuals, households and corporations are acutely aware of the need to eliminate unnecessary consumption--now more than ever these cost-cutting tactics are a necessity for survival.

Environmentally conscious action not only catalyzes the reduction of waste and but also encourages responsible consumption, on the individual level and the enterprise level. The Beanstockd application provides a venue for individuals, households and companies to track their daily consumption and to review and change their lifestyles and operations through monitoring the choices they make every day.

Beanstockd stimulates and supports this shift in lifestyle and mentality - in a world that now requires it of us.

We're honored to share the finalist list with major digital influencers such as Twitter, Digg, Huffington Post and of course the Knight Foundation.

We Media defines Game Changers as individuals and projects which "inspire involvement and action through media" and we think that Beanstockd fits the bill. If you agree (or disagree!) we'd love to have your support and feedback; cast your vote here for Beanstockd for Community Choice Winner.

Thanks!

The first new vertical was elementary schools, a venue that may prove to be a successful launch site for the game. Schools nationwide are not only integrating technology into their curriculum but environmental education as well; at the same time children are increasingly tech-savvy and are becoming adept gamers and social networkers. Pairing the Beanstockd Game with this user group could be a perfect fit, which is why we began storyboarding a children's version of the game this September.

One of our advisers suggested that the Beanstockd Game may in fact work ideally within an office setting. He pointed out that a growing number of Global 2000 companies are dedicating large portions of their budgets to improving green policies internally. At the same time, these companies invest a good deal of time into relationship development among their employees. In the corporate environment, the Beanstockd game may not only serve to improve green practices at the employee level, but will also serve as a innovative team building tool.

We're excited to test the Beanstockd game in these three very different verticals (universities, schools, and businesses), and our ultimate goal is to see this played on the city level where residents collaborate to reduce their neighborhood's environmental footprint.

We're interested to see how each population reacts to the game. Who will adopt the game most quickly? Who will stay engaged longest? Where will the most tangible change take place?

The Political Machine leads the surge of educational, social issue games targeted toward anyone older than young adult. Its particular appeal lies in its focus on one of the most prominent, interesting and hot social issues now: the US presidential campaign. I (the target user) couldn't wait to play because the game offered me the chance to get involved, to stand in the shoes of one of the characters I read about in the paper every day.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that one of the objectives of the Beanstockd-Idea Lab blog is to determine key elements that make a digital multiplayer game appealing and entertaining, and to apply them to the Beanstockd concept. We built the Beanstockd Game to test a new approach to motivating pro-environmental behavioral change. What we've developed is a social issue game that seeks to do more than educate-- the Beanstockd Game drives players to act upon the knowledge they've gained.

There's a lot we can learn from social issue games like the Political Machine, or Superstruct, "a massively multiplayer forecasting game" which allows a community of players to collaborate and form a vision of the world in 2019 based on current social conditions. It is clear that these innovative games attract players because of their focus on extremely salient issues; but it's what gets people to stick around that really interests us.

Last week we spoke with Elan Lee, founder of Fourth Wall Studios and the Alternate Reality Game sensation I Love Bees, and picked his brain about creating a game that's not only entertaining, but also compelling to players over an extended period of time. We found that ARGs like I Love Bees are engrossing because they tell a story- players advance to the next chapter by piecing together clues, driven by the mystery of the game. This type of game relies on the creativity and curiosity of players. Superstruct also falls into this "story " category, as players collaborate to imagine and tell the story of the world in 2019.

Which brings us to another point important point - the relationship between players. In multiplayer games, there's nothing more entertaining to a game player than other players. The relationship between players is either amicable or antagonistic: they either collaborate or compete; a relationship which keeps players invested in the game.
The Political Machine allows players to compete online with other players, providing another reason for a player to stay engaged beyond interest in the specific social issue.

Elan suggested we make competition key to our game, validating our hunch that in order to drive players to make the behavioral changes necessary to gain points they'd need more incentive than a prize or interest in green lifestyle; that incentive is competition.

We believe that competition can provide adequate incentive to stimulate behavioral change through the Beanstockd Game. In our next blog post, Angela will elaborate on why the green competition formula works best for our concept.

So now we can answer my question: If you're too old for Oregon Trail, why would you play an educational computer game? And, why would you play for an extended period of time? The new wave of social issue games gives us some answers, revealing the following gaming incentives that we can apply to our concept:

- Relevant, interesting and appealing issues
- Mystery that must be solved
- Ability to collaborate and create with other players
- Ability to compete with other players

We write to you from sunny Philadelphia, where we are currently building The Beanstockd Game: a competitive social network which incentivizes environmental behavior in small geographic communities and which, coincidentally, happens to be the focus of this blog.

Why Philly? We're here thanks to DreamIt Ventures, a Philadelphia-based incubator program which is providing resources and mentorship to help build Beanstockd into an environmental empire! Well, not an empire, but definitely into something great.

To give you a bit of background, we created The Beanstockd Project during our junior year at Harvard after returning to the states from our study abroad trip to Paris. During our 5 months abroad, we adopted habits standard to the European way of life--air drying clothing, using the water intermittently during showers, only taking public transportation. Within only the first 3 months abroad, these habits became normal to us simply from living in a cultural environment where people minimized their consumption. Upon coming home to the states, we found ourselves wondering if there was a way to recreate that positive social pressure in the States...

... and, The Beanstockd Project was born.

We developed our hypothesis, pinpointing three major gaps in the environmental movement, then crafted The Beanstockd Project to address them. These three gaps are:

1. Negative stigma - environmentalism is, despite all the press it's getting, still popularly perceived as hippie or granola OR is mistrusted as a marketing ploy; the movement still does not genuinely resonate with the young adult generation.

2. Lack of accountability - people don't really know the extent of their environmental impact.

3. Lack of incentives - nothing drives individuals to make the more environmentally conscious lifestyle choice when there is a more convenient or economical option available.

Beanstockd targets all three of these problems through media and gaming.

1. Negative stigma: Beanstockd News

Makes accessing environmental information entertaining and appealing to young adults - reporting on the latest in pop culture and current events and including a contextually related green spin to reach readers through the news stories they actively seek out.

2 & 3. Accountability and Incentive: The Beanstockd Game

Allows players in closed geographic communities to internally compete in an environmental competition; the most environmentally-active team wins the competition, a prize, and social recognition. The concept is unique because it approaches environmentalism from an unprecedented direction - it uses entertainment and competition to promote environmentally conscious behavior.

We believe that entertainment, immersion and competition, as embodied by games in general are powerful qualities that can be harnessed to drive an individual or group of individuals to change the way they perceive social issues, to change the way they live their own lives, and to change the world itself. To give you a sense of the power of gaming, Alternate Reality Gaming celeb (yeah those exist!) Prof Jane McGonigal writes "I'm trying to make sure that a game developer wins a Nobel Prize by the year 2032." We're clearly not alone in our thinking.

In the following weeks we'll be updating you on the execution of the concept, asking deep questions like: what makes a game a game?, asking fun questions like: how do we add entertainment value to the competition?, and asking silly questions like: what is the environmental impact of Jamie Lynn Spears' baby?

That's it for now. Tune in next week for more...