Betterscape is a Facebook gaming app that rewards and promotes people who make the world a better place in their day-to-day lives. Players tell short, real-life stories about how their friends improve the world around them. By rewarding others with karma points in specific ‘good deed’ categories, points let players earn badges like Earth-Saver, Do-Gooder, Mentor, and many others. BetterScape donates 90% of the revenue from the sale of virtual karma refills to a different set of high-impact 501c(3) non-profits every month.
This game was based on the observation that people spend hundreds of hours playing games like Farmville, with no obvious benefit other than to kill time. A game that actually rewards positive behavior could be an element of change.
Dan was the team’s creative director, responsible for branding, messaging and the design of the user interface of the Facebook game.