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One of the biggest impacts the media can have on environmentalism is to spread awareness that can then lead to practical actions like legislation. Rachel Carson’s book, Silent springs, documented the environmental effects caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides that helped lead to the environmental movement in 1962.
“A direct line could be drawn to the creation of the EPA in the United States,” said E-Line Media co-founder Alan Gershenfeld, who is currently developing an ocean exploration game called Beyond Blue. “Even photographs, like William Anders’ Earth Rise photograph in Apollo 8, raised awareness of the idea of a singular planet.”
Gershenfeld said games can have a similar impact on the world. He was one of four panelists, all of whom served as part of the United Nations Playing for the Planet Alliance (a collaboration with the video game industry to inspire environmental action), discussing how the gaming industry can affect change. Climatic on the second day of GamesBeat Summit 2020. They explained how the games industry is helping to combat global warming.
Gershenfeld explored two ways that video games can inspire change. The former are games that are “already committed to delving” into a specific topic, behavior, or legislation, while the latter are games that explore a topic more broadly to raise awareness. He said that his game, Beyond Blue, is trying to get players to think about the current state of the ocean.
All panelists agreed that the games have the potential to have an impact similar to Silent springsBut the industry is still in the process of working toward that goal.
“Environmental issues are emerging more and more, especially in the narrative and action genres in games,” said Pietari Päivänen, who is in charge of special projects, such as environment-related initiatives, at Supercell. “Of course, we are a much younger form of entertainment compared to books and movements. So we are on the sensitizing side of things he would say. “
Gershenfeld cited climate change themed modifications in Minecraft and City: Skylines as a concrete way in which games have made players think about the environment. “They have to dive into that topic, like a modder,” he said. “That is powerful.” Gershenfeld and other panelists say the drive across the industry for a greener world has grown.
“I really think the momentum comes from all angles,” said Gershenfeld on how consumers and developers are more environmentally minded. “The recent climate marches had more than 4 million street youth worldwide, so there is an audience […] and the tools for making games are becoming more democratizing, you see middle and high school kids making games and they have provocative impact themes. It’s a generation of impact. “
Above: “The Power of Games for Climate Change” features Alan Gershenfeld of E-Line Media; Mathias Norvig of Sybo; Pietari Päivänen of Supercell; moderated by Sam Barratt of UN Environment.
Image credit: GamesBeat
Studies can still make more practical ground-level changes to combat climate change. Päivänen spoke about how Supercell turned into carbon negative by evaluating the footprint of its flights to other studios, its servers, and the energy consumption of its players.
“It is not that complicated,” he said. “The first thing to keep in mind is that calculus is not an exact science.” Päivänen and others mentioned that the studies should hold an initial meeting as a starting point to launch their own climate change projects.
“The challenge is then, when you have a game with 100 million [monthly active users] that small changes can be shocking in a good way, and can take away the experience from players who liked how it was, “said SYBO Games CEO Mathias Nørvig, who develops Subway Surfers, a popular mobile endless racer.” The first change we implemented was putting environmental messages in the game environment. We are currently in Iceland for Easter and you will see windmills in the background. When we were in Austin, you saw solar panels on the roof. “
Nørvig said changes like this may be small, especially compared to story-based titles, but their impact can be significant.
“It means that 100 million players are watching windmills and solar panels,” he said. “We hope that fosters conversations in families and regions that have not had it before.”
