MirrorMe: Increasing Prosocial Behaviour in Public Transport

Public transport can be a place where commuters feel rushed or stressed. Missing your train, a delayed bus or crowdedness at the station does not induce happiness among most people. As a consequence, prosocial behaviour like offering someone a seat is displayed less often. We discuss the design and design process of MirrorMe, a simple communal game to induce positive mood of commuters. MirrorMe aims to increase prosocial behaviour through mimicry. Commuters are challenged to "make a face" and thereby connect to other commuters. MirrorMe will be installed in a public display close to a train station enabling access to all commuters and passersby. This work addresses the need for games and play in public setting to stimulate prosocial behaviour. It exemplifies how multidisciplinary HCI approaches in a gamejam setting can contribute to real life challenges. We conclude with open questions for impact evaluation in future work.