Greenwasher card game
Stichting Solidaridad Nederland
Despite the growing importance for sustainability, there is still no legislation at the European level that mandates corporate responsibility and, in the Netherlands, there are still products for sale where exploitation, unsafe working conditions and child labor are part of the production process.
The challenge of this project was to design a serious game to support Stichting Solidaridad Nederland campaign for effective European legislation on Corporate Responsibility.
Consumer research
During the research, it was found that consumers are partially aware of the poor working conditions and lack of living wages within the fashion industry. However, they do not feel sufficiently empowered to change this.
This is partly due to a lack of transparency about the origin and production of clothing products and a general distrust in brands' self-imposed sustainability goals.
As a result, people have developed cognitive dissonance for sustainability issues, specifically when they feel they are not equipt with the tools needed to take action.
Design
To achieve the goal, a game was developed that can be played with a small group of people. For this purpose, a low threshold and low learning curve was maintained as a game design requirement.
During the game the focus is put on the fun of playing, but the player gets a picture of the real situation and the effect their buying behavior can have on it. In this way, the subject can be discussed in a light-hearted way.
The sustainability points that can be achieved are based on the "People, Planet, Profit" categories created as sustainability criteria for Corporate Social Responsibility.
Players become better at the game when they better understand the situation and criteria, this is referred to in packaging, rules and cards in the deck. This also applies to a QR code link to Solidaridad’s campaign. This way they are not only shown how things are going wrong, but also to provide a possibility to do something about it.
The gameplay loop
Before the game begins, each player is given a role; they are either manifacturers or consumers. Manifacturers offer cards, consumers decide if they want to buy them or not. When the game begins, all manifacturers take five clothing cards from the pile.
At the beginning of each round, a clothing card from the pile is placed face-up on the table. This is called the consumer demand.
The manufacturers choose one of their cards that best matches the demand card. They must convince the consumer of the quality of their card from the description on the back, but may lie about it to make it look better than it is. The better the production quality, the more sustainability points that card has.
After the manifactors have described their card, the consumers may choose one at a time a card that is on the table. If they think there is not a good option among them, they may also choose not to take any card.
Once all consumers have made a choice whether to buy a card or not, the round is over and a new round is started.
Once one of the manufacturers has sold their last clothing card, they win. They are either the most sustainable brand or the best greenwasher.... The consumer with the most sustainability points at the end of the game is the winning consumer and declared the most conscious buyer.
There are a few things to consider when buying one of the cards:
If the card chosen is a different garment than the one the consumer asked for, a point will be deducted from the card's sustainability points. Because the consumer did not need that item in the first place.
If the chosen card is more expensive than the consumer's request, one point is deducted from the card's sustainability points. Because the consumer could not actually afford that item.
If the chosen card ends up with a negative number of sustainability points, those points are deducted from the consumer's current point total.