Why are we called Bold Donut ?

A delicious version of the Doughnut Economics diagram

We get a range of reactions when we tell people that our company is called “Bold Donut”. It often provokes a smile or a question like “so you’re a donut company then?”. Not quite, but it’s a good excuse to get some branded treats…

Occasionally, often when speaking with sustainability professionals, we get a knowing nod and “I see what you did there…” but It’s not meant to be an obscure easter egg for people “in the know”. It’s very much a big nod to an idea we are very fond of: “Doughnut Economics” (although we went with the shorter US spelling).

Doughnut Economics was developed by the economist Kate Raworth and can be summarised in the diagram and definition below:

“A compass for human prosperity in the 21st century, with the aim of meeting the needs of all people within the means of the living planet.”

Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics

The idea is that the goal of nations, cities, and communities shouldn’t be perpetual economic growth for the sake of growth and the detriment of communities, wellbeing and the environment (infamously missing from GDP calculations).

Instead, the goal should be to thrive within the safe and just space for humanity, to “stay within the doughnut”.

Apart from sounding much more fun, what that essentially means is that we should aim to meet everyone’s needs (think healthcare, education, access to green spaces, nutritious food, political voice and so on) while also staying within planetary boundaries. Sounds sensible right?

We weren’t just attracted to the ideas of doughnut economics, we also appreciated the power of how the ideas were presented. A simple intuitive diagram that makes sense to non-economists!

So when we design games, we have ideas like doughnut economics front and centre in our minds.

There are already some great games that centre life and ecology rather than resource extraction and conquest like Alba a Wildlife Adventure or Terra Nil (screenshot below).

Terra Nil Gameplay Screenshot

We believe that digital games are a fun and effective way to engage a wide audience with topics like climate change, the circular economy and doughnut economics. In fact, there has been a growing sustainability movement within the game industry itself through programmes like the UN’s Playing4thePlanet.

As for Bold Donut, we are not a conventional games company. Our approach is to provide “games-as-a-service” to sustainability professionals who need a fun way to engage and educate their internal audiences at scale - whether they are the 10,000 students at their university or the 100,000 employees within their company. 

In our recent circular economy game for Trinity College Dublin, we combined traditional game achievement mechanics like leaderboards and badges with community level goals where the progress of individuals visibly adds up towards a collective benefit (see the “donut chart” below).

This can be connected to collective rewards or just serve as a way to demonstrate the “social proof” needed to engage new players.

Home page of Bold Donut’s waste and circular economy game

Players earn “donuts” for their community through solving casual puzzles and completing fun quizzes!

We have a lot of ideas of how to embed ideas like doughnut economics into our games - most will be more subtle than a giant doughnut!

So now you know. While we love doughnuts, we’re not a doughnut company. We’re committed to making concepts like “doughnut economics” even more accessible through fun digital games. If you want to learn more about Doughnut Economics then check out their website for an introduction.

Stay tuned for updates and if you have any questions about our services please do get in touch.

Until then, we hope you enjoy whatever type of doughnuts you’re into!

Nathan from Bold Donut with some actual Doughnuts!