Can AI Prompt Humans? Multimodal Agents Prompt Players' Game Actions and Show Consequences to Raise Sustainability Awareness

Abstract

Unsustainable behaviors are challenging to prevent due to their long-term, often unclear consequences. Games offer a promising solution by creating artificial environments where players can immediately experience the outcomes of their actions. To explore this potential, we developed EcoEcho, a GenAI-powered game leveraging multimodal agents to raise sustainability awareness. These agents engage players in natural conversations, prompting them to take in-game actions that lead to visible environmental impacts. We evaluated EcoEcho using a mixed-methods approach with 23 participants. Results show a significant increase in intended sustainable behaviors post-game, although attitudes towards sustainability only slightly improved. This finding highlights the potential of multimodal agents and action-consequence mechanics to effectively motivate real-world behavioral changes such as raising environmental sustainability awareness.