City of Port Orange sought strategies to reach children and families and get them engaged with parks, and wanted to find a solution that did not take up too much time or provide a huge cost burden.
The city was heavily influenced by the Agents of Discovery model of “Explorer Campaigns”, and adapted that process to engage their local players. Their team creates new Missions for each park quarterly, and these new Missions contribute towards player progress in the “Port Orange Parks Expert Explorer”. When players complete three and/or six Missions, they also receive branded badges. Teresa Wiggins, Recreation Manager at the City of Port Orange put it this way: “I did borrow the Explorer Campaign concept, so we have our own Port Orange Explorer. We loved that theming idea.”
To create engaging Missions for Florida residents, Port Orange also used an Agents of Discovery’s Education Specialist to create one of their Missions.
“One of our Missions was entirely built by an Agents representative to take some of the pressure off. That was very helpful. I used it in our most environmentally focused park.”
The City of Port Orange created a series of pins for each Mission site to encourage players to visit other parks and play more Missions. The incomplete Missions are seasonal and will unlock later in the year.
“We wanted to bring more technology into the parks. We recognize that our user groups are already on their phones, and we wanted to meet them where they are. When we were looking at what platform to use in the parks, this one stood out because it was educational (not just playing games in the parks), but also learning environmental, cultural, and historical info. They can build a different connection to our parks that way.”
“The Mission Maker is super simple to use – it refreshes instantly. I can test Missions out pretty easily from the office before launching them.”
Teresa Wiggins
Recreation Manager,
City of Port Orange