Shloka: When LLMs, Faith Meet Climate Action

Climate change games exist, but they face a fundamental problem: they preach to audiences who don't see themselves in the narrative. Most climate games use generic messaging about polar bears and melting ice caps—content that feels distant and irrelevant to players from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. Meanwhile, religious communities represent billions of people with strong environmental values rooted in their traditions, yet climate games rarely engage these values.

This case study documents Shloka, a climate game that integrates authentic Hindu religious practices to teach environmental responsibility. Rather than asking players to adopt new values, Shloka connects climate action to existing cultural frameworks—turning environmental responsibility from abstract civic duty into sacred obligation. Through 4 months of ethnographic fieldwork in India, I created the first academically-researched climate game that authentically integrates religious practices rather than just aesthetic references.

The Problem

Climate games have low engagement and limited impact: Research shows that serious games focused on climate change struggle with player engagement and behavior change. Many climate games fail because they present generic messages disconnected from players' cultural values and lived experiences. When players don't see themselves in the narrative, they don't engage.

The disconnect: Climate games often assume universal values about environmental protection, but motivation is cultural. A game about saving polar bears might resonate with one demographic, but fall flat with another that values different approaches to environmental responsibility rooted in their own traditions.

The untapped opportunity: Religious communities worldwide hold billions of adherents, many with strong environmental values embedded in their faith traditions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and other religions all have teachings about environmental stewardship. Yet climate games rarely engage these deeply-held values, missing opportunities to connect with audiences who already care about environmental protection through a different lens.

My Approach

As Lead Researcher and Game Designer, I conducted deep ethnographic research to create the first climate game integrating authentic religious practices:

• 4-month fieldwork in India: Visual ethnography at Tirumala and Sabarimala pilgrimage sites (412 photos, 43 videos) documenting real ritual practices and environmental contexts
• Participant observation: Engaged in pilgrimages and rituals as a practicing Hindu to understand embodied experience
• Co-design with religious scholars: Worked with temple priests and Hindu scholars to ensure theological accuracy and cultural respect
• Built Shloka in Unity: Created a climate game using real Hindu rituals (mudras, mantras, breathing exercises) digitized through computer vision and audio recognition
• Comparative evaluation study: Tested Shloka against 9 other climate games with 24 participants, measuring engagement, immersion, and climate attitudes

Key Outcomes

• 87% higher immersion than traditional climate games based on standardized measurements
• 84% better guidance scores—players found deity mentors more helpful than traditional tutorial systems
• Players reframed climate action as "sacred duty" rather than abstract responsibility
• First academically-researched faith-based climate game—published at top-tier conferences
• Real-world adoption: 5 temples piloting Shloka for youth education programs
• ACM DIS 2025 Best Paper Award—recognized by the HCI community

Research Strategy: Going Beyond Surface-Level Understanding

Defining the Research Questions

After extensive literature review, I identified a critical gap: while researchers had studied religion and climate change from theological perspectives, no one had deeply explored how to integrate authentic religious practices into interactive climate education.

Phase 1: Ethnographic Discovery - Understanding Sacred Spaces

The Journey to Sacred Sites

Rather than relying on secondary sources or theoretical knowledge, I conducted firsthand ethnographic fieldwork at two of India's most significant pilgrimage sites: Tirumala (the world's most visited temple, home to Venkateswara) and Sabarimala (dedicated to Ayyappa, located in a forest reserve).

This fieldwork was essential because religious practice isn't just about texts or beliefs—it's about embodied experience in specific places. I needed to understand how climate change actually manifested in sacred spaces, how environmental protection was conceptualized within ritual contexts, and how pilgrims engaged with nature as part of their spiritual practice.

Why These Sites Matter

• Scale and significance: Tirumala receives 50,000+ visitors daily (over 40 million annually), Sabarimala hosts 40+ million pilgrims during the annual pilgrimage season alone—these aren't niche sites but centers of mass religious practice
• Environmental vulnerability: Both temples are located in ecologically sensitive mountain regions (Tirumala in the Eastern Ghats, Sabarimala in the Western Ghats) facing visible climate change impacts including landslides, altered rainfall patterns, and deforestation
• Active climate response: Both temple authorities have implemented substantial environmental initiatives—solar power, water conservation, forest protection programs—making them ideal sites to study how environmental action is conceptualized within religious frameworks
• Diverse practices: The two sites represent different types of pilgrimage (daily temple worship vs. annual forest pilgrimage) providing broader understanding of how environmental contexts shape ritual practice

Research Methodology

I employed a multi-method ethnographic approach to capture both observable behaviors and deeper cultural meanings:

• Visual ethnography (412 photos, 43 videos): Documented ritual performances, environmental practices, temple signage about climate action, and visible climate impacts like deforestation or water scarcity. Photography was crucial for capturing spatial relationships, ritual gestures, and environmental contexts.
• Participant observation: Participated in pilgrimages, morning prayers, offerings, and community practices as a practicing Hindu. This wasn't just observation—I engaged in the same embodied experiences I hoped to digitize in the game.
• Field sketching: In areas where photography was restricted (some inner sanctums prohibit cameras), I documented observations through detailed sketches of spatial layouts, ritual objects, and environmental features.
• Informal conversations: Natural interactions with pilgrims, temple staff, forest officers, and local community members yielded insights into how environmental concerns were discussed within religious contexts.

Key Discoveries from Fieldwork

Three critical insights emerged from the ethnographic work that fundamentally shaped the game's design approach:

Phase 2: Co-Design & Cultural Navigation

The Sensitivity Challenge

Moving from ethnographic insights to game design required navigating complex theological considerations. Good intentions aren't enough when working with sacred content—design decisions needed alignment with religious principles, not just aesthetic appeal. I worked with Hindu scholars, temple priests, and practicing game designers to ensure theological accuracy while maintaining engaging gameplay.

Initial Design Failure: The God-Player Problem

First Prototype Concept: Players would directly control Hindu deities like Ganesha or Shiva, using divine powers to combat pollution and climate change. This seemed logical from a game design perspective—players control powerful characters to solve problems.

Critical Community Feedback: "This is theologically problematic. Deities are omnipotent and don't need to 'level up' or become more powerful. Allowing players to control gods reduces divine agency—you're making the divine subservient to player actions. This could be seen as disrespectful to the tradition."

Key Learning: Representation isn't just about including cultural content—it requires theological accuracy and cultural respect. Game mechanics that make sense from a design perspective might violate cultural principles when applied to sacred content.

Design Iteration: From Control to Collaboration

Based on this feedback, I redesigned the core player-deity relationship:

Revised Approach: Players don't control deities—they embody "Shloka," a chosen child who receives guidance and powers from climate deities through proper ritual practice. Rather than wielding divine power directly, players perform authentic rituals (mudras, mantras, breathing exercises) correctly, and deities respond by granting abilities or assistance.

Why This Worked Theologically:

• Preserved divine agency: Gods remain omnipotent mentors who choose when and how to respond—they're not subservient to player commands
• Maintained ritual meaning: Players must perform real ritual actions correctly to receive divine assistance, preserving the significance of proper religious practice
• Authentic to Hindu concepts: Aligned with concepts of divine grace and the relationship between devotees and deities—worship isn't transactional control but devotional relationship
• Created game design opportunities: Ritual performance accuracy became the skill challenge, making proper practice rewarding and educational

Technical Innovation: Digitizing Sacred Practices

Creating the game required translating embodied religious practices into interactive digital systems. This wasn't just about recognizing gestures—I needed systems that could validate spiritual performance with the same rigor players would experience in physical ritual practice.

Mudra Recognition System

I used Google Teachable Machine to create computer vision models trained on 500+ images of correct mudra formations from multiple hand positions. The system achieves 92% accuracy in gesture recognition, meaning players must actually form precise hand positions rather than approximating them. This precision matters because mudras have specific spiritual meanings—getting the gesture right isn't just a game mechanic, it's learning authentic ritual practice.

Chanting Recognition

Integrated OpenAI Whisper API for speech recognition with custom Sanskrit pronunciation validation. The system doesn't just detect that the player spoke—it evaluates pronunciation accuracy against proper mantra chanting, including rhythm and tonal patterns. This technical challenge became a teaching opportunity: players receive feedback on how to correctly pronounce Sanskrit mantras, learning both the climate science content and the religious practice.

Breathing Detection

Built a microphone-based system that captures breathing patterns and provides real-time visual feedback to guide users through traditional Pranayama (breathing exercises). The system detects inhalation/exhalation rhythm and duration, providing biofeedback that helps players master breathing techniques used in actual religious practice. These breathing exercises form part of the game's meditation sequences that teach environmental awareness.

Fire Worship Recognition

Developed computer vision systems to detect light sources and track circular motion patterns for proper Arati (fire worship) ceremony performance. Players hold a physical light source and perform circular motions that the camera tracks, creating embodied interaction with sacred fire worship. This connects physical ritual practice to game progression—proper ritual performance unlocks environmental problem-solving abilities.

Phase 3: Rigorous Evaluation - Measuring Cultural Resonance

Comparative Study Design

To validate Shloka's effectiveness, I designed a comprehensive comparative evaluation against 9 existing climate games. This study wasn't just about proving our game performed better—it was about understanding what specific elements of cultural integration drive engagement and learning. By comparing Shloka against diverse approaches (simulation games, narrative adventures, puzzle games, etc.), I could identify whether religious integration was genuinely transformative or just interesting theming.

Study Scope:

• 24 participants: Hindu practitioners who played all 10 games (Shloka + 9 comparison games)
• 10 games total: Diverse approaches including simulation games (Civilization), narrative games, puzzle games, and other climate-focused titles
• 2+ hour sessions: Each participant played every game, providing standardized ratings and detailed interviews

Study Protocol

I designed a rigorous protocol to minimize order effects and capture both quantitative and qualitative data:

• Opening interview (20 min): Assessed baseline climate attitudes, religious practice frequency, gaming experience, and prior exposure to climate games. This established individual differences that might affect engagement patterns.
• Game rotation (2+ hours): Participants played all 10 games in randomized order using Latin Square design to control for learning and fatigue effects. Each participant experienced games in a unique sequence.
• Post-game surveys (10 min per game): After each game, participants completed standardized questionnaires measuring immersion, interest, guidance quality, and climate concern. These quantitative measures allowed statistical comparison across games.
• Neutral reset (3 min per game): Between each game, participants watched a standardized neutral video to clear their mental palate and prevent carryover effects from one game to the next.
• Closing interview (30 min): After completing all games, participants engaged in comparative reflection—discussing which games were most engaging, why, and how Shloka compared to others. This captured deeper qualitative insights about cultural resonance.

Key Qualitative Insights

Through thematic analysis of 14 in-depth interviews, three major themes emerged:

Design Principles Discovered

Through this comparative research, I identified five key principles for culturally-responsive UX design that apply beyond games:

1. Cultural Authenticity Over Cultural Aesthetics

Surface-level cultural elements (colors, symbols, music) don't create engagement—authentic cultural practices and values do. Shloka's authentic ritual interactions created 87% higher immersion than culturally-themed games that used Hindu aesthetics but generic mechanics. Design implication: Deep engagement requires integrating cultural practices, not just cultural appearance.

2. Values-Based Motivation Over Feature-Based Persuasion

Connect new behaviors to existing moral frameworks rather than creating new value systems. Participants reframed climate action as religious duty (dharma) using existing concepts they already valued, rather than adopting new environmental consciousness. Design implication: Find how new behaviors align with existing cultural values rather than persuading users to adopt new values.

3. Localized Relevance Over Universal Impact

Personal/local consequences motivate more than global/abstract impacts. Participants showed higher emotional engagement with threats to familiar temples (Tirumala, Ganges) than global climate statistics. Seeing climate impacts on sacred spaces they'd visited created urgency. Design implication: Make consequences concrete and personally meaningful within users' cultural context.

4. Embodied Interaction Over Cognitive Processing

Physical/ritual interactions create deeper engagement than purely mental tasks. Ritual performance created "dual achievement"—players felt accomplishment from both cultural practice (performing mudras correctly) and learning goals (understanding climate science). Design implication: Incorporate physical practices that users already value, making learning feel like natural cultural expression.

5. Mentorship-Based Guidance Over System-Based Instruction

Guidance from culturally-respected figures feels more supportive than system tutorials. Deity mentors scored 84% higher on "guidance" than traditional tutorial systems, even though they provided identical information. Authority and respect came from cultural context, not just clarity. Design implication: Identify culturally-respected figures who can serve as mentors, not just information sources.

Impact & Professional Growth

Academic Impact

• ACM DIS 2025 - Full Paper and Best Paper (Top-tier HCI Conference)
• ACM CHI PLAY 2024 - WiP paper

Real-World Application

• Temple Education Programs: 5 temples piloting Shloka for youth climate education
• Academic Curriculum: Framework adopted in 2 game design courses
• Open Source Release: Code and design documents available for community adaptation

Conclusion

The Shloka project demonstrated that culturally-responsive design isn't just about representation—it's about deeply understanding and integrating the cultural practices and values that actually drive human behavior. By moving beyond surface-level aesthetics (Hindu symbols, Indian music) to authentic cultural integration (real rituals, theological accuracy, localized climate scenarios), we created an experience that resonated with players and motivated genuine climate engagement.

Beyond this specific game: This work provides a reusable framework for how UX practitioners can approach culturally-sensitive design challenges across domains. The five design principles discovered (cultural authenticity over aesthetics, values-based motivation, localized relevance, embodied interaction, mentorship-based guidance) apply broadly to designing for any cultural community.

Methodological contribution: The research demonstrates how ethnographic fieldwork, participatory design with cultural stakeholders, and rigorous comparative evaluation can work together to create culturally-grounded interactive experiences. Rather than making assumptions about what cultural communities want, I engaged deeply in the lived practices of religious communities and co-designed with cultural authorities—ensuring the final product served both game design goals and theological respect.

Real-world impact: Shloka is currently being piloted at 5 temples for youth education programs, has been published at top-tier HCI conferences, and is available open-source for adaptation by other developers. The framework has been adopted in game design courses and influenced how researchers think about faith-based serious games.