Every industry is under scrutiny for their impact on the environment and climate change, as more people are aware of the dangers of climate change.
Video games, media, entertainment, and media companies, in particular require significant energy to run powerful computers, high speed internet connections, and cloud-based technologies.
One study estimatedGaming consumed the same amount energy worldwide as 5,000,000 cars. Gaming consoles and computers also contribute to the 50,000,000 tons of electronic waste that is produced each year. Only 20% of it is recycled. According to the UN Environmental Programme.
Video games have a large audience of fans, players, and commentators all over the globe. The United Nations saw an opportunity for the message of climate change to reach both the audience and the industry.
“Three billion people are gamers. Nearly one in every two people on the globe is on their phone or at home playing games. This medium is the most powerful in the world. So we believe that working together with this industry can make a big difference in people’s lives,” stated Sam Barratt, chief of UN Environmental Programme’s Unit that engages young people in environmental issues.
According to me, the climate crisis affects everyone, everywhere, at once to try to make a change. This is why we in the video gaming industry have to get our hands dirty.
Barratt stated that he was inspired by the time his children spent playing video games, particularly his 12-year-old son.
“He spends a lot time in games, which made me think, how can this medium entertain people and also give them the opportunity to make a difference?” Barratt said that Playing 4 The Planet was born out of a desire to explore the possibilities in gaming.
Barrett has stated that since its 2019 launch, the Playing 4 The Planet AllianceOver 40 companies and industry associations have been involved in setting standards to reduce plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. They also use initiatives like the Green Game Jam Developer Competition to incorporate environmental messages in small-scale educational games as well as big-name franchises.
Alenda Chang, assistant professor of media Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara, and author of Playing Nature: Ecology in Video GamesAccording to, games can have a lot to do with changing how people view the environment.
Chang stated that while many games use nature as a backdrop or source of resources, interactive and immersive video games could allow players the opportunity to experience and learn about the effects of humans on the natural world. She cited Shelter, a game where gamers play as a mother badger who protects her cubs, and SimCity, which can show large-scale human society’s impacts, as examples of games that help gamers empathize with non-human perspectives.
The most important takeaway I believe is that play really does matter. Chang stated that play is not a secondary realm that’s frivolous, escapist or depressing.
As a professor, I know from personal experience that the best solutions to climate change and other environmental challenges are social.
Sony Interactive Entertainment, the parent company behind PlayStation, launched a conservation drive with Horizon: Forbidden West, one its biggest games releases of the year. The main character Aloy is the protagonist of the game. She tries to save an Earth from future threats such as diseased land, enemies, hostile animal-like machines and worsening storms.
Kieran Mies, senior director of social and environmental governance at Sony Interactive Entertainment said the game inspired them to stress the real-world importance for natural ecosystems.
The game shows them how they see the post-apocalyptic scenes of nature taking over. Meyers explained that the narrative speaks to the world in which we all want to make a difference.
Sony has partnered with The Arbor Day Foundation will plant nearly 300,000.In areas that have been affected by wildfires, deforestation, or other natural disasters in California and Wisconsin.
“[PlayStation]They met their customers and their network. They do what they love, playing games. They found a creative way of engaging them and inspiring them to help us achieve our common goals of planting trees, and doing something great to the planet, Dan Lambe, director of Arbor Day Foundation, told ABC.
Lambe stated that while planting trees alone won’t solve the climate crisis, it is a good place for people to start.
Meyers stated that Sony also has goals to reduce their environmental footprint by 2050. This includes reducing greenhouse gases emissions in their workplaces, supply chain, eliminating virgin materials, and phasing-out materials that pose environmental risk.
The UN’s Green Game Jam competition will evaluate competing games based on their environmental messages. This year’s Earth Day is April 22nd. The campaign aims to reach hundreds of million of gamers.
Anno 1800, one of the Green Game Jam winners for 2021, used in-game activities where players were required to clean up pollution caused by invading armies. It challenged players to build a new society, without destroying too many natural resource.
Ubisoft, the game’s publisher used money earned from paid content to help fund efforts to plant over 300,000.
I believe the ultimate goal, perhaps in the end, is to see how online actions can be translated into real life benefits for the planet, our communities and our gamers. Nicolas Hunsinger from Ubisoft’s Environment and Social Governance department said that it’s something that no other media can achieve.