GuestXR USE CASE
Climate change responsibility and resource management in XR
Overview
This GuestXR use case develops an XR immersive game designed around the “tragedy of the commons” scenario, where players’ actions in cryptocurrency mining reflect the environmental impacts of unsustainable resource usage.
The purpose of this experience is twofold: it serves as a training ground for the Guest AI, teaching it to assist in maintaining harmony and supporting sustainable choices among players. At the same time, it encourages players to consider the long-term impacts of their decisions, offering a hands-on perspective on climate responsibility.
Methodology
This experience is informed by research into factors that shape group dynamics, specifically examining how players’ perspectives on time, perceptions of environmental conditions, and social orientation impact their resource use.
To simulate these group dynamics, the development team created a multi-agent model where each agent (player) seeks to maximize its resource gain while adapting to changing environmental and social conditions.
The game operates as a tragedy of commons scenario, allowing participants to explore firsthand the effects of competitive versus cooperative resource harvesting. This methodology allows to track behavioral patterns and determine the conditions most likely to foster sustainable, cooperative actions.
THE VIRTUAL GAME
Climate and Cryptocurrency
In this game, players assume roles in a cryptocurrency mining scenario where they must make cooperative or competitive decisions regarding resource use.
Each decision affects the in-game climate, showing players how their choices can lead to either sustainable or exploitative outcomes.
Guided by the AI agent “Guest,” the game encourages players to reflect on their environmental responsibilities, understanding how individual and group actions can contribute to either the preservation or exploitation of shared resources and the consequences of prioritizing short-term gain over long-term sustainability.
RESULTS
Key outcomes
The project has achieved significant academic recognition. It was nominated for the 3DUI Contest Demos at the IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality, and resulted in publications in IEEE VR, as well as an accepted paper at HICSS, documenting the impact of environmental feedback and GuestXR-mediated interventions on cooperative decision-making.
Empirical findings demonstrate that non-coercive, behaviour-dependent audio-visual interventions can shift player strategies from short-term, competitive resource extraction towards more cooperative and sustainable patterns of use.
Beyond academic dissemination, the project has entered an applied phase through a collaboration with a Poland-based Foundation for Climate Education, which has already used the XR game in pilot educational and testing contexts.
The foundation plans to continue employing the experience as part of its climate education and research activities, confirming the use case’s relevance not only as a research instrument but also as a practical XR methodology for climate education, behavioural testing, and the future development of ethical, AI-supported interventions in immersive environments.