What Promotes and Prevents Engagement in Environmental Gamification? Focus Group Insights from Persistent and Former Users of Ant Forest

Gamification has demonstrated increasing potential in enhancing public participation in sustainability initiatives. However, it depends on user acceptance and sustained usage. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the factors that promote and hinder user engagement in environmental gamification is essential for optimizing such interactive design products and services. This study conducted five focus groups with 11 persistent users and 12 former users of Ant Forest, an environmental gamification in China. Participants discussed the perceived benefits, usage barriers, and concerns arising from their experiences of accepting, continuously using, and (partially) abandoning Ant Forest. Consistent with prior literature, factors related to altruism, egoism, and usability were well recognized and elaborated in our findings. Additionally, we identified factors such as credibility, profit distribution, workload, and habituation, which are critical to user retention. These findings are expected to offer valuable insights for the design, development, optimization, and research in the fields of sustainability and gamification.