How Games Empower Public Welfare: A Study Based on Ant Forest User Engagement

Wang Yujie¹, Lu Songjian¹, Li Qichen²
(1. Baoding University, Baoding, Hebei 071000; 2. Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050010)

Abstract: Gamification design has played a catalytic role in public welfare projects; however, how to integrate gamification into daily behaviors to promote users' unconscious participation in public welfare actions and its sustainability mechanism remains to be thoroughly explored. This study conducted semi-structured interviews with ten veteran Ant Forest users and performed a comparative analysis of their usage experiences. The research reveals that Ant Forest, by embedding gamification elements in both virtual public welfare scenarios and user behavioral contexts, effectively supports the initiative, collaboration, and diversification of users' public welfare behaviors, thereby facilitating a continuous transformation of public welfare actions from "practical games" to "social games" and ultimately to "linked games." The empowerment of "gamification" has shaped a new public welfare culture, opening a viable path toward realizing the vision of "universal philanthropy" where everyone can participate.

Keywords: gamification; internet philanthropy; user engagement; Ant Forest; technology empowerment

Public welfare activities aim to improve social problems and enhance social well-being, representing an important marker of social civilization progress. Before the emergence of internet-based philanthropy, public welfare primarily relied on offline charitable fundraising and volunteer services. These activities typically required high organizational costs and strong community foundations, emphasizing interpersonal mutual aid and symbiotic relationships with relatively pronounced administrative characteristics [1]. However, as "Internet + Public Welfare" gradually became an emerging form of philanthropic activity, public participation shifted from traditional material donations toward immersive public welfare experiences, with increasing entertainment and趣味性. The global popularity of the 2014 "Ice Bucket Challenge" marked the beginning of gamification's介入 into internet philanthropy. In fact, the intrinsic mechanisms of public welfare communication and games share a natural coupling. People's desire to participate in games, combined with the technological evolution of compensatory media, has made the gamified development of public welfare communication possible [2]. Through gamification, philanthropic activities successfully simplify complex information into intuitive and engaging content, allowing the public to enjoy gaming while developing deeper awareness of public welfare issues.

In recent years, research on gamification design in internet philanthropy has developed rapidly. A literature review reveals that current domestic studies primarily focus on three core dimensions: mobilization mechanisms, interaction rituals, and participation motivations. Overall, the academic community widely recognizes that gamification design plays a catalytic role in micro-philanthropy projects, significantly enhancing user engagement while optimizing the efficiency and effectiveness of public welfare actions. However, research gaps remain, such as best practices in gamification design and the sustainability of long-term participation. Based on this, our research focuses on Ant Forest as a phenomenal success case, examining how it skillfully integrates gamification into daily behaviors to promote users' unconscious participation in environmental actions and its sustainability mechanism.

1. "Ant Forest": A Model Practice of Gamified Public Welfare Culture

Ant Forest is a low-carbon environmental advocacy project provided by Alipay for its users, which received the United Nations' highest environmental honor, the "Champions of the Earth" award, in 2019. By combining mobile payment with environmental concepts through a mobile game format, it became a phenomenal gamified public welfare product upon its launch in 2016. By completing a series of game tasks such as green transportation, utility bill payments, and green recycling, users can obtain quantified game energy deposited into their personal "carbon accounts." When accumulated energy reaches the level required for a sapling or protected area, Alipay and its public welfare partners plant a real tree in desertified regions (such as Alxa and Ordos) on behalf of the user and award them a uniquely numbered tree-planting certificate. As of August 2024, Ant Forest has attracted over 700 million participants, planted a cumulative total of 548 million trees, co-established 34 public welfare protection areas, and successively supported ecological construction in 24 provinces including Inner Mongolia and Gansu [3]. Against the backdrop of digitalization, digital media characterized by visualization, interactivity, and sociality provides new possibilities for advancing ecological and environmental construction [4]. As a representative of gamified internet philanthropy, Ant Forest has fundamentally transformed the traditional model of public welfare culture. It advocates a new lifestyle concept, encouraging people to actively participate in environmental and other public welfare causes while enjoying the convenience and pleasure brought by technology. Through individual participation and interactive experiences, it has shaped a more relaxed and entertaining public welfare culture. More importantly, it has changed the traditional perception of public welfare as a one-time or short-term activity, gradually evolving it into a more systematic and sustained endeavor focused on small daily actions by each individual. The sustainability mechanism of internet-based public welfare actions is a multi-dimensional, cross-domain complex system, with users' motivations, attitudes, and perspectives toward participating in public welfare projects being key components of this mechanism. Ant Forest's innovative model of integrating games into public welfare holds typical significance in its design for mobilizing user participation enthusiasm and sustainability.

2. Research Methods

This study selected ten respondents of different genders, ages, regions, and occupations for interviews conducted via telephone or face-to-face, with each interview lasting no less than 40 minutes. Interview topics included but were not limited to: (1) basic usage patterns such as duration, frequency, and how they learned about the platform; (2) user motivations and influencing factors; and (3) usage evaluations and improvement suggestions. All interview questions were open-ended, encouraging respondents to express themselves freely and fully. All interviews were conducted with respondents' consent, and to protect their privacy, alphabetical codes (A, B, C, D, etc.) were used as pseudonyms. During the interviews, the researcher actively guided respondents to share their genuine feelings and perspectives, with all conversations recorded for subsequent review and analysis.

[TABLE:1] Basic Information of Interview Respondents
Gender | Age | Region | Occupation | Usage Duration
Male | 23 | Shijiazhuang, Hebei | Community worker | About three months
Male | 24 | Xinyang, Henan | Public sector employee | Over two years
... (table continues)

3. From Passive to Active: Individual Participation in "Practical Games"

Traditional public welfare participation has primarily centered on "one-way donations," presenting a top-down, procedural public welfare communication flow. Due to the lack of long-term mechanisms and strategic planning, the conclusion of a donation often signifies the end of a public welfare activity, preventing maximized effectiveness in conveying philanthropic concepts and cultivating charitable habits [5]. In contrast, Ant Forest leverages new media platforms such as online networks and social media to achieve two-way information flow and interactive communication, enhancing users' individual sense of agency. By combining virtual public welfare scenarios with user behavioral contexts and prioritizing user experience, it promotes proactive user involvement, enabling individuals to autonomously participate in public welfare activities within their daily lives.

3.1 Value Identification Through Reward Mechanisms

Self-Determination Theory (SDT) emphasizes that satisfying basic psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—is crucial for stimulating intrinsic motivation and enhancing user engagement [6]. This suggests that game rewards are not merely external incentives but also ways to fulfill users' intrinsic needs. Players receive meaningful rewards such as medals, points, coupons, or even cash incentives when completing specific game tasks or behaviors. While public welfare constitutes the core of Ant Forest, the reward mechanism realized through gamification further promotes user attention, active participation, and even spontaneous dissemination. The impact of each low-carbon behavior is no longer an intangible number but transforms into a tangible object, providing users with clear reward perception that satisfies their need for self-value recognition.

Ant Forest clarifies how much game energy different behaviors yield, allowing users to clearly perceive the varying environmental impacts of their actions. "My favorite is planting 'Haloxylon trees,' and someday I hope to visit where my trees are planted" (I, female, 35). Meanwhile, after completing a behavior, Ant Forest's energy cannot be collected immediately—it typically requires 24 hours before it can be harvested, which encourages users' browsing behavior. "I basically use it once a day because the walking energy I generate from my daily commute needs to be collected the next day" (D, male, 24). "My energy matures around 7 AM every morning, and I collect it immediately" (J, male, 22). Ant Forest is a "wake-up game" that has historically defeated alarm clocks in human history. Through clear time guidance, it constructs "visible" immediate rewards that subtly transform people's lifestyles. With explicit data support, users progress toward established goals, with planting a real tree serving as the ultimate victory marker.

Beyond daily low-carbon behavior rewards, users can obtain additional energy or energy props through bonus tasks. These tasks vary in content and form. For instance, "Energy Rain" requires users to click rapidly falling energy balls to acquire green energy, offering obvious gaming experiences that are time-efficient. "I use Ant Forest every day, sometimes many times, because I can play Energy Rain daily. I think it's faster than accumulating energy through online payments" (A, male, 23). Although these tasks differ in content, their ultimate goal is to enhance user stickiness. Moreover, Ant Forest designs various achievement-based rewards beyond its core energy mechanism, such as environmental certificates, tree-planting certificates, and event certificates displayed as badges in the "My Achievements" interface. These badges symbolize users' accomplishments in energy conservation and emission reduction, visually demonstrating goal achievement and significantly enhancing users' pride and sense of accomplishment.

Thus, Ant Forest skillfully integrates entertainment with educational significance. Its uniqueness lies not only in providing engaging and fun experiences but also in creating profound social and environmental value. While enjoying the game and witnessing virtual trees grow and energy values increase, participants genuinely experience the positive environmental impact of individual actions, making it possible to transform green dreams in the virtual world into tangible green actions in reality.

3.2 The Win-Win Logic Behind Self-Interest Motivation

Among the many factors driving public participation in philanthropy, self-interest and altruistic motivations play crucial roles [7]. Self-interest motivation refers to individuals' primary drive to maximize their own benefits, a concept extensively discussed in economics and psychology research. This implies that individuals participating in public welfare activities are not entirely selfless but seek certain returns, essentially constituting a transactional behavior [8]. "I chose to use Ant Forest to obtain Fortune Cards for the 'Five Fortunes' event" (G, female, 28). "I work away from home, and by interacting with my father on Ant Forest, I can better maintain our family bond" (H, female, 25). "Everyone is using it and talks about it. Out of social needs, I unconsciously use it too" (H, female, 25). Meanwhile, as a nurturing game, users witness trees growing from small to large, from virtual to real, accompanying a tree's entire growth process. Over time, players develop emotional attachment. "For my little tree to grow, I visit Ant Forest daily to collect energy and even purchase decorations for it" (J, male, 22).

Freud believed that humans' choice of entertainment is instinctive behavior, not a decision made through deliberate contemplation [9]. Individual self-interest motivation is not always negative; it can be reasonable and legitimate, especially when combined with social development and personal growth [10]. Contemporary youth face significant pressures from career, education, and economy in their fast-paced lives. In contrast, Ant Forest's game design is relatively simple and easy to operate, filling users' fragmented time while providing emotional release and stress relief, greatly enriching life experiences and satisfying users' need for environmental control. When personal interests align with public welfare goals, users can satisfy their psychological, social, and entertainment needs while simultaneously participating in actual public welfare activities. This entertainment appeal further highlights the gamification characteristics of internet philanthropy and serves as the starting point for many people's spontaneous participation.

3.3 Low-Threshold Value Self-Actualization

Real-life public welfare participation often faces time and energy costs, along with concerns about organizational transparency and credibility. Many potential donors or volunteers weigh personal time management and resource allocation before participating, considering whether they can afford the additional burden. In contrast, Ant Forest appears more accessible and transparent to the masses, free from restrictions of identity, status, or region. Built upon Alipay, a widely used mobile payment platform, users need not download or register for additional applications. This seamless integration greatly lowers the entry barrier.

Ant Forest encourages users to accumulate green energy through daily low-carbon behaviors such as walking, cycling, and online payments. These behaviors are typically part of users' daily routines, requiring no high time or energy costs—users simply need to collect generated energy with a finger tap during fragmented time, without any additional financial cost. "I first learned about Ant Forest when I stumbled upon other users' videos on Douyin. It seemed interesting—you could plant a real tree just by tapping on your phone" (C, female, 54). "I hope to contribute my small part to our country's environmental protection through low-cost daily behaviors" (F, female, 21). An ordinary walk or regular shopping consumption can become a pathway to participating in public welfare. Through gamification design, Ant Forest enables users to engage in public welfare through simple game tasks, unifying the "front-stage" real scenes with "backstage" virtual donations.

4. From Isolated to Collaborative: Group Participation in "Social Games"

Traditional public welfare activities typically feature relatively singular organizational methods and participation models, focusing more on execution and outcomes. Under this model, individual philanthropic behavior is largely treated as a private matter rather than part of a collective or community activity. Ant Forest places greater emphasis on interaction and communication among participants, achieving decentralization, collectivization, and community-building in public welfare activities.

4.1 Interactive Communication Bonding User Relationships

Interaction is the source of social dynamics, and each individual's self-identity is formed through continuous social interaction [11]. Gamification design provides the public with excellent emotional exchange and social interaction, gradually transforming them into clusters with internal identification, consistent goals, and high cohesion [12]. Most friends in Ant Forest come from Alipay contacts, and the "strong ties" network formed through acquaintance socializing possesses certain stability. These acquaintances connected by strong ties can also bring more people into the public welfare game as extended roles [13].

Through gamification design, Ant Forest constructs a public welfare social network full of interaction, communication, and cooperation, tightening users' social relationships. Public welfare participants are no longer isolated but become indispensable members of the tree-planting community, jointly advancing social public welfare progress. During interaction, the weak-tie network among users can be effectively promoted and bonded, even transforming imperceptibly into strong-tie networks, thereby further expanding social circles and influence.

4.2 Group Power Advancing Synergy Effects

Under gamified packaging, friends engage in more frequent and intimate communication through "stealing" and "helping" interactions, making social relationships tighter. "I find its mutual energy-stealing and watering functions very interesting, which keeps me playing every day" (D, male, 24). "My father often waters my tree and steals my energy. I feel this is a special way of connecting with him" (H, female, 25). "This interaction method enhances my social experience" (E, male, 24). While seemingly simple, these interactions increase users' perception of support from society and other users. Compared to traditional individual-level environmental actions, this approach makes users' contributions visible to others while allowing them to feel attention and support from others.

When friends' energy balls expire without timely collection, other friends can help "revive" this energy. The positive feedback given when receiving help reminders encourages more frequent interaction, deepening social connections. Meanwhile, functions such as liking and leaving messages for friends also expand users' social networks to some extent. Leaderboards, as the most typical manifestation of social competition, can stimulate users' enthusiasm and initiative. In Ant Forest's leaderboard, users can see their energy acquisition values and rankings compared to friends. This ranking mechanism triggers competitive psychology, shifting users from "I've completed my task" to "I need to do more to win." Top-ranked users enjoy the honor of high positions and must continuously perform low-carbon behaviors to maintain their rank, while lower-ranked users are motivated to stay engaged to improve their standing, significantly promoting participation. "I really care about this ranking. I'm currently number one, so I want to stay there. I basically collect energy in Ant Forest every day" (D, male, 24). "My ranking is very low, and I feel bad every time I see it" (C, female, 54). "I set an alarm to collect energy on time and try to improve my ranking" (J, male, 22). Additionally, leaderboards enhance mutual identification and cohesion as a shared goal among friends.

First, teamwork can effectively compensate for individual limitations, pooling collective wisdom and strength to achieve accomplishments beyond individual capabilities. Without disrupting the game's core mechanics or data system, Ant Forest's "Co-Planting" function serves as an important pathway to reduce game difficulty while maintaining Alipay friend relationships. Co-planting themes include Happiness Tree, Family Tree, Love Tree, Classmates Forest, Colleagues Forest, Friends Tree, and Pioneer Forest. Users can invite family or friends to jointly complete a tree's planting, which not only improves planting efficiency and helps users achieve goals faster but also strengthens connections and communication, making public welfare communication more warm and infectious. Second, celebrities joining public welfare games greatly influences more people to participate. As public figures with extensive social influence and fan bases, celebrities can quickly generate attention and heated discussions. Ant Forest invites celebrities from various fields to join the "Celebrity Public Welfare Forest," leveraging star power to enhance exposure and attention for public welfare activities, gathering diverse social forces as "Tree Planting Partners," and maximizing dissemination effectiveness. Users can water their idols' public welfare forests to plant trees together. This collaborative tree-planting between stars and fans not only strengthens idol-fan connections but also raises public environmental awareness. Whether through "Co-Planting" or "Celebrity Public Welfare Forest" initiatives, participants are provided with opportunities for exchange and cooperation. By aggregating individual behavioral impacts, participants not only deeply appreciate their positive contributions to environmental causes but also feel their positive influence on other community members.

5. From Single to Diverse: Officially Created "Linked Games"

Ant Forest's cross-sector public welfare collaboration based on internet platforms involves not only multiple stakeholders such as government, market, and third sectors but also reduces cross-sector cooperation costs and promotes effective resource matching through internet platforms' communication and connection channels [14]. This "linked game" model not only enhances the comprehensive effectiveness of public welfare actions but also promotes deep integration across society and the formation of a public welfare communication community [15]. Public welfare activities are no longer confined to a single organization or institution but can advance toward a new pattern of scaled development.

On one hand, by transforming daily environmental behaviors into a series of clear gamified tasks and tightly integrating them with e-commerce consumption, Ant Forest innovatively promotes the "green consumption" trend. In its cooperation model with Tmall, users purchasing products with the "green appliance" label from designated Tmall stores and paying via Alipay receive corresponding green energy rewards seven days after confirming receipt. This "public welfare–e-commerce" synergy model demonstrates unique innovation and provides new approaches for promoting sustainable lifestyles. It not only motivates consumers to choose more environmentally friendly products but also enhances merchants' enthusiasm for promoting green products, creating a virtuous cycle.

On the other hand, Ant Forest's "Public Welfare Forest" function serves as an exemplary model of multi-dimensional linkage. The platform's public welfare forest watering leaderboard covers six categories: wishing, brands, schools, institutions, cities, and entertainment. By inviting various enterprises, schools, and social forces to join, this mechanism successfully pools extensive social resources. Meanwhile, in public welfare communication activities, enterprises, schools, and entertainment institutions often become role models for the public due to their rich social capital and large fan bases, their words and actions possessing "natural" influence and authority. Public welfare initiatives launched by these entities can quickly generate widespread attention, with their fans driving exponential growth as they participate, making universal participation possible. Taking "Zhengzhou University Public Welfare Forest" as an example, as of June 15, 2024, its total watering exceeded 1,600 tons, planting 11,066 Mongolian pines. The energy required to plant a single Mongolian pine is equivalent to what an average user accumulates in a year.

By integrating entertainment and interactive gamified elements into public welfare, Ant Forest has shaped a new public welfare culture and attempted to activate a co-participation process from individuals to groups to the entire platform. Public welfare itself need not be serious; it can become interesting, relaxed, and easy to participate in. The key lies in innovatively designing participation methods to naturally integrate them into daily life and sustain them long-term. The empowerment of games for internet philanthropy is evident, but how to balance the depth and breadth of gamification and public welfare activities to ensure that gamification strategies genuinely promote social public welfare development is a question requiring further exploration.

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Author Biographies: Wang Yujie (1988—), female, from Baoding, Hebei, Associate Professor at Baoding University, Ph.D. candidate, research direction: cultural communication; Lu Songjian (1999—), male, from Pingnan, Guangxi, undergraduate student in Network and New Media at Baoding University, research direction: network and new media; Li Qichen (2005—), female, from Baoding, Hebei, student at the School of Journalism and Communication, Hebei Normal University, research direction: new media communication.
(Corresponding Editor: Li Yansong)