Environmentalism and Games

[Fightgarr]

I play games mainly for the purpose of entertainment. Frankly, many bad games I enjoy. But its when gaming turns into an art form that I think certain elements shine. Games can tackle, through plots, visuals and characters, issues of importance in the world today. Many games are fine simply looking at the concept of war, the effect it has in the world, the terrors of it. Generally these games can't get that message across incredibly effectively because of the nature of their gameplay (being that its meant to be fun and the game is generally an FPS).

One thing I've not seen tackled in many games is the environment. My 2 favorite films being Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind should give you an idea of what my worldview is. I think that gaming as a medium could explore this concept well. Raise awareness at the very least.

Do you know of any games that actually tackle this issue? What is your opinion on a games duty to spread a message? Do you feel that gaming is a valid way to shed light on issues of the environment?

 

[Fightgarr]

Sorry about the double topic please delete one.

 

[Pseudonym2]

You are aware how god-awful video games are for the environment right?

 

[Sayvara]

Environmentalism is about trying to save the world... but so is most games. So in order to make an environmentalism game you would have to take any game which has a plot about saving the world and then cutting out all that which the gaming medium makes possible... such as monsters, hideously evil megacorps and so on. What we end up with is not a game but a Real Life-sim...

Boooooring!!!

If I want to pretend I'm saving the world through environmentalism I can just throw money at Greenpeace and join some spaced out festival where people go anti-corporatism. Immersion is a helluva lot better for one thing. But quite frankly I wouldn't be arsed because of two things:

1) You cannot win. Not because environmentalism will fail and the planet gets destroyed but because you will fail and someone someone that is not you will save it, such as for instance a megacorp.

2) I cannot stand all these pretenders that do this kind of self-deluded live action roleplaying. At least people that play multiplayer roleplaying games on the computer can separate fantasy from reality whereas your average green activist can not. There are still those around that believe a nuclear meltdown will render an entire contient uninhabitable or that all the world's nuclear reactors can go PHOOM like Chernobyl. They seem to have forgotten that cheat codes that can break the laws of physics and Real Life are not on speaking terms.

/S

 

[cobra_ky]

the Eco-quest series are the only games i know of that are specifically about environmentalism, though there's a lot of games like Okami and Mario Sunshine with the general theme "nature good, pollution/artifice bad."

 

[OurGloriousLeader]

Environmentalism as a serious political movement is kind of dull for a game. However, the artwork in the films you mentioned is amazing, I love me some ghibli, and such a theme of people getting to touch with nature would be good for a game, but only in the background.

 

[DigitalSushi]

Captain Planet? excellent message and it really did mean well, but no, just no.

It should really be a more popular choice to tackle for dev's, or should I say for the Marketing department of the publishers, what with the devices we use a) using so much energy b) so many materials that are toxic to Earth.

 

[Jumpman]

not really sure about this one. games can certainly make subtle statements about it, but I have trouble imagining much more than that. I cant see a game using that as part of its core storyline.

 

[GothmogII]

Humm, oddly enough, I found Final Fantasy 7 to have that kind of theme...vaguely of course. It was kind of dumb really, i.e. the Mako Reactors creating mutants and destroying the local areas...actually, come to think of it, nearly all of the areas in that game were some kind of wasteland. Anyway, a side theme to the whole save the world plot was the 'Lifestream', and how the Mako reactors were sucking it away and hurting the planet in the process.

 

[rokudan]

Environmentalism is about trying to save the world...

Nope, its not. At least, its not any more. Its about Anti-Capitalism/Communism and trying to hurt the U.S. as much as possible. Patric Moore, who was one of the co-founders of Greenpeace, left that organization because of the direction it was going. The website for Greenpeace trashes Moore, and does its best to discreit and disqualify him and any association he had with the party.

Here is an interesting interview that you should definately check out.

http://www.highyieldconservation.org/articles/dr_truth.html

 

[Sayvara]

Environmentalism is about trying to save the world...

Nope, its not. At least, its not any more. Its about Anti-Capitalism/Communism and trying to hurt the U.S. as much as possible. Patric Moore, who was one of the co-founders of Greenpeace, left that organization because of the direction it was going. The website for Greenpeace trashes Moore, and does its best to discreit and disqualify him and any association he had with the party.

Here is an interesting interview that you should definately check out.

http://www.highyieldconservation.org/articles/dr_truth.html

I supposed I should have said "...is supposedly about trying to save the world".

Yes I know about Greenpeace being hijacked by the anti-capitalists. Moore explained it to length in Penn & Teller: Bullshit! - Environmental Hysteria. You can find it on YouTube. Just enter the boldfaced in the search box and you'll land right on it.

/S

 

[Erana]

One thing I've not seen tackled in many games is the environment. My 2 favorite films being Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind should give you an idea of what my worldview is. I think that gaming as a medium could explore this concept well. Raise awareness at the very least.

Do you know of any games that actually tackle this issue? What is your opinion on a games duty to spread a message? Do you feel that gaming is a valid way to shed light on issues of the environment?

Done. [http://tale-of-tales.com/TheEndlessForest/index.html]

 

[Robert0288]

only game where I can clearly see an enviromental group having a direct impact on gameplay was the first rainbow 6, where the megacorp was run by eco-terrorists trying to exterminate the human race in order to save the world. Not exactly the thing your trying to portay I think.

 

[Fightgarr]

Humm, oddly enough, I found Final Fantasy 7 to have that kind of theme...vaguely of course. It was kind of dumb really, i.e. the Mako Reactors creating mutants and destroying the local areas...actually, come to think of it, nearly all of the areas in that game were some kind of wasteland. Anyway, a side theme to the whole save the world plot was the 'Lifestream', and how the Mako reactors were sucking it away and hurting the planet in the process.

Actually dig a little deeper. Final Fantasy 7 has subtleties which make you wish they never would have stopped using coal and crude oil. Its why you sympathize with North Corel, the mining town. To me it was less about the environment and more about coal over nuclear.

To all of the rest of you who say that a game about environmentalism would be boring. Of course it would. You're missing the point. The point is not to have a game about the movement, the point is to have the underlying message. Did you think that Nausicaa and Mononoke were boring? Likely not, and they managed to express my worldview perfectly.

You are aware how god-awful video games are for the environment right?

Yes I do. I also know that the Wii is the worst for the environment as consoles go now, the 360 is the second worst and the PS3 is actually the most environmentally friendly (according to a green test that Greenpeace did on each of the consoles a while ago). While I realize the damage that video games do to the environment, spreading a message could help reduce that impact.

I'm not saying it hasn't been explored by some games I'm just saying that its an important issue at the moment and its one that games could explore as a medium.

 

[742]

ok, so, the evil wizard is trying to destroy the world... that DOES include all the trees ect, nobody cares.
the (faction) terrorists are planning to destroy (city/country name) with (nuclear/chemical/disease) weapons. nuclear weapons are generally regarded as being bad for the enviroment, nobody cares.
aliens plan to destroy the human race. probably some of the nastier animals too, maybe even ALL life on the planet, but nobody cares about that part.

heres why nobody cares: nobody gives a shit about the enviroment. well, i mean, some of us do, and we all SAY we do, but seriously, do you care about the trees in your local park? if a serial arborist suddenly started chainsawing(thats a real word? WTF?) trees would you REALLY cry? or at least feel bad? i think we all know the answer.

 

[sequio]

What? I need trees to make my catapults to kill the orc! I thought sonic (before he moved into the cities) was pretty pro-environmental. If there is a modern game that is interactive and fun with a pro-environment message without being overtly political I would love to play it. Like a medieval fantasy game where you're the elves and are trying to save your forests and woodland creatures from evil man. Each person you kill = +1 fertilizer or something.

 

[Clemenstation]

There's a game I've always been interested in that's about social justice and organizing peaceful protest (which goes hand in hand with environmentalism, historically). Haven't tried it yet, but maybe one day...

A Force More Powerful:

http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/game/index.php

I imagine the game sucks but I really like the name.

 

[rokudan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAu68OsFggw&feature=PlayList&p=382578B02EFAE637&index=0&playnext=1

 

[edwould]

I want a new ECCO the Dolphin with a sci-fi story about the earth's climate and how life can change it. ECCO's objectives would involve fixing run away forces of climate change to save the earth.

 

[rokudan]

I want a new ECCO the Dolphin with a sci-fi story about the earth's climate and how life can change it. ECCO's objectives would involve fixing run away forces of climate change to save the earth.

Yes, because the planet has never ever ever had its climate change in any way in its entire existance.....except for when it was formed and was a giant ball of fire and lava.....and the various ice ages....and when the magnetic pole's invert every 50,000 years.