An internet and cellphone-based game for school children aimed at encouraging pupils to save electricity has been hailed by internet guru Arthur Goldstuck as a visionary idea. However, he wondered whether it would be easily accessible.
"It's a great concept but may be missing the mark as there is far less MXit penetration among primary school kids than in high school," he said.
"While children certainly are highly adept at very specific activities on their phones, this does not mean they take naturally to new applications, services or features," Goldstuck said.
Save It is available free via the internet and on popular social networking tool MXit, and was launched a week ago by Energy Minister Dipuo Peters.
"The initiative is visionary in that it tries to talk to children where they are, rather than trying to attract them to a government portal, which would seem an alien environment to them," Goldstuck said.
He said the game fell short in assuming that children would play for the sake of the score - it would need to have powerful "viral" appeal to achieve the levels of popularity to make it compelling as a contest.
"A better strategy would have been to offer a direct reward that is tied in to the economics of MXit, such as MXit moolah. But the government gets a pass mark for trying," he said.
The game features three superhero characters who try to thwart the Energy Guzzler, a power-wasting monster who is using up the electricity available in a home. The characters must out-manoeuvre the Guzzler, beating him by saving as much power as they can before he can undo their good work. The game is aimed at primary school children who can compare scores with other MXit users across the country.
Speaking at the launch in Vryburg, Peters said the government was constantly looking at new ways to reach out to citizens. "We are very excited to be using new media to communicate with the youth, who, let's admit, are already far more techno-savvy than any adult," she said.
"Reaching the hearts and minds of South Africans starts with reaching the youth: we hope that they will take what they have learnt into their homes, their schools and, ultimately, into the future."
The game was developed by government as part of its National Energy Efficiency Campaign, comprising a schools road show and a communications campaign aimed at educating South Africans about the importance of saving energy.
"The world depends on its youth as pathfinders in the maze of technological advancement and sustainable development," the minister said.
She added that in light of both the recently announced electricity tariff increase and the global economic recession, the government was determined to help South Africans reduce household electricity bills.
- Save It is available on MXit in Tradepost and can be freely downloaded from www.savingenergy.co.za