While sustainable mobility options and improved information services such as co-modal route planners are increasingly available, such offers could not yet encourage enough travellers to change their habitual mobility patterns. The objective of Virtual Pursuit is to assess the potentials of such gamification approaches in the traffic context: the idea is to let Players compete against several virtual ‘twins’ travelling along alternative routes, thus increasing the perception of alternatives and triggering changes in their mobility behaviour. The Virtual Pursuit approach is to investigate and continually test with potential user groups 1) routing aspects and 2) the potential of various gaming elements. The project results are concepts and system specifications for game variants having a high potential to be successful for the target groups.

Despite growing availability of sustainable mobility alternatives and improved information services provided e.g. by multi-modal route planners there are still many people sticking with their mobility habits. “Persuasive” measures aim at significantly increasing the interest for and the perception of these alternatives by designing the interaction with such mobility information services in an entertaining fashion. Virtual Pursuit investigates the potentials of gamification approaches in the context of mobility by way of a specific game concept, where gamers compete in real everyday situations against other virtual travelers (trip “twins”), who aim for the same goal on alternative paths through the multi modal transport system. In this way the perception of alternative ways of traveling can be enhanced and changes of habits stimulated.