Introducing a Mobility on Demand System to Prospective Users With the Help of a Serious Game

Abstract

Sustainable mobility concepts are challenged to create a positive users' attitude and a high willingness-to-use to be adopted and survive on the market. Prospective users must not merely be informed about the service but become involved and feel affected. The contribution introduces a digital learning game, a so called serious game, to improve players' knowledge, attitude and willingness to use mobility on demand systems (MODS). The goal of an evaluation study in a high school (N = 71) was to compare the serious game and an online research according to the proposed effects on knowledge, attitude and usage intention. The study demonstrates that pupils' level of knowledge about the operational concepts of MODS increased after playing the game and the retention rate was higher. Playing the game furthermore resulted in a more positive appraisal of MODS concerning their usefulness. No significant effect of the serious game on the later usage behaviour was found. The paper points out the benefits of a gamified approach for introducing mobility services to prospective users and derives recommendations for the application of gamified approaches to facilitate the adoption of new technology or services.