The fourth edition of PlayEnergy, our project that’s designed to encourage young people, through a game, to adopt virtuous and sustainable behaviors, particularly in the use of energy, has plenty of new features.
The fourth edition: what’s new
The most important development in this latest edition concerns the use of social media: as of this year, the platform on which the game is played will be integrated with the main social networks, such as Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok. This is in order to encourage individual involvement and provide greater visibility for the people taking part. Other new features include rewards in the form of gift cards that players can "buy" at the portal at any time, by using the points they have accumulated.
Furthermore, the focus is shifting to the heart of sustainability, namely the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in particular those that our Group has taken as a benchmark for measuring its performance: SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).
The age group has also been broadened: young people from the ages of 14 to 25 (and no longer just up to 20) can now enter. The idea is to attract the crucial segment of college students and those who have already entered the world of work. As for high school students, it has been confirmed that they will receive support from their teachers.
The approach is still based on gamification, with the adoption of typical game mechanisms, such as rankings, medals and levels. Nor have we changed the setting, namely, that of a science fiction comic, which is still popular, especially with young people. And, thanks to artificial intelligence, this year science fiction meets science.
The rules of the game
Each player starts with a score representing the carbon dioxide emissions produced per capita annually, which, for the purposes of the game, is converted into an imaginary indicator, KGI, or kilograms of ignorance: the goal of the game is to get to zero. Hence the name of the game platform: the road to zero.
In order to reach this goal, players must accomplish missions that have the SDGs as their theme in general and the afore-mentioned four in particular, and which can be of various types: for example, answering questions after watching video or reading an article, solving quizzes, creating content and posting it on social media, liking and sharing posts, and inviting other users to register on the platform and complete at least one mission.
As players reduce their KGI, they win medals, with which they can go up levels: they start at Eco Explorer and can reach the sixth and final level, Zero Champions.
A summary of the previous editions
The first three editions of Play Energy had a total of more than 28,000 players. The focus was on different aspects of sustainability which changed with each edition: in 2021, for example, the theme was the circular economy and in particular the design of the circular cities of the future.
The 2022 edition, on the other hand, focused on the theme of electrification, in order to raise awareness among younger generations about a key pillar of the energy transition that still doesn’t receive enough attention.
How to enter
The fourth edition, which starts on October 30, 2023 and ends on March 15, 2024, is open to young people from four countries – Italy, Brazil, Colombia and Chile.
In order to enter, you can reach the "Road to zero" platform from the landing page playenergy.enel.com or from individual domains divided by language: roadtozeroplayenergy.it for Italy, pt.roadtozeroplayenergy.it for Brazil, es.roadtozeroplayenergy.it for Chile and Colombia.