Climate Change: Could Video Games Offer a Solution?

Humanity’s ability to change behaviors can be infamously hard. Simple changes like cycling to work instead of driving often become another broken new year’s resolution. Plastic use is a massive problem too, but sometimes avoiding the use of disposables is hard. Based on a recent article from Sustainable Times, however, it seems that video games could be an important key in combating climate change.

A number of examples suggest that change can be much easier than we think, and that gamification could hold the answer. Games have a profound effect on people, and has been proven to have positive impacts on fields like medicine and education. One study, for example, showed that surgical skill improved with gaming. Now it could change our approach to saving the planet.

Games transport people through different space-times. Many popular games transport us back to the distant past like Red Dead 2 & Far Cry Primal. These games teach the player that to be successful, they have to appreciate and consider natural, finite resources.

In contrast, games which take us to post-apocalyptic worlds show the consequences of short-sighted actions. Such games like the Fallout series demonstrate the consequences of nuclear destruction.

Therefore, expertly-crafted games could educate, entertain and frighten players about climate change. Most importantly, they could inspire current and future generations to invent solutions to climate change.

One way would be to include sustainability in gaming, to ‘green’ AAA titles. Imagine if games included missions to save a city/ecosystem from flooding, biodiversity loss and resource depletion. In fact, Marvel’s Spider-Man does include a side mission about cleaning up plastics, but it’s only a quick side mission. Medium-length missions could focus on plastic on beaches and the effect on coastal wildlife.

A few existing, massively-popular games rely on resource monitoring as a main feature of the game. Ecosystem sustainability is a key part of SimCity, and Minecraft now has a special mode featuring climate change, carbon taxes, and emissions offsets through planting trees.

The potential of ‘greening’ games could be huge, but some game developers aren’t very nature conscious. Ubisoft’s Far Cry series is one example of relentlessly exploiting local Fauna and Flora in the ecosystem. Many games still promote exploitation and destruction as their primary aim without appropriate consequences. If more developers included sustainability into games, it could be the key to help reduce climate change.

Eco, a civilization simulation game demonstrates the impacts that players have on the environment. Players must balance both development and conservation of the natural world.

New research shows such games help people understand the science of climate change. The World Climate Simulation is a game where players become negotiators at an United Nations climate summit. Players must make decisions about lowering greenhouse gas emissions to slow the warming of the Earth. If they don’t do enough, the game shows them the consequences.

Whilst gaming is showing positive effects on people’s attitudes to climate change, more still needs to be done. One potential issue of ‘greening’ gaming could be that it actually disassociates the problem. Furthermore, it’s the governments of the world that need to take stock of the issues and correct harmful policies.