Game for Change

On a thursday last month I attended a TMA forum that was led by BYU Gaming, a track within the Animation department. Throughout the presentation I oo’ed and ah’ed over what students could do, but there was a large noticeable gap indicative of the greater problem in the gaming industry. I brought my concerns to my partner, an avid gamer, and he agreed. “Mainstream industry video games are all about playability. Storylines, social issues, that sort of thing, aren’t given priority, because when it comes down it it it’s all about spectacle.” But when it comes down to it, all video games really are about is agency. You make a path in a narrative through decisions, ultimately resulting in some sort of conclusion. Text-based video games get at the very core and basic nature of games. It makes sense that we use such a format to exhibit a societal issue, because in order for video games to take that leap forward, they need to take a step back. If you strip back the spectacle and focus on the basic elements, maybe we can build up to something great again. So in my simple, text-based video game sustained, I focus on the issues of sustainability, resources, and consumer responsibility by giving the user a set amount of daily limits of water, and they must make it through the day sometimes sacrificing things such as watering their dog or growing food in order to take a shower that day.

I wanted to show how high the stakes are for sustainability in the real world by raising the stakes in the virtual one. You start with 75% of the average use per day per person, and if you make it through that one, you move on to 50%, until you are down to days where you don’t even have electricity and your water and food supply are scarce. I draw a lot of my inspiration from Bird on Fire, a book written by Andrew Ross on what he calls the “world’s least sustainable city,” Phoenix, Arizona. However, having lived in both Phoenix and Provo, Utah, I am equally scared for both. Provo’s air quality, recycling programs, energy suppliers, and food sources are not up to par with a truly sustainable model. If things continue the way they are, sustained will be come a stark reality. I am hoping that living in a virtual world where resources are limited, will urge players to find out more about how they can prevent this from happening. (I even provide links at the end.)

I wanted to keep my facts in line with stats of resource use for the average person in America, so I used websites such as USGS, the US Energy Information Administration, and Duke University’s Center for Sustainability. But I wanted the game to be engaging beyond using information based in reality, I wanted to make aesthetic decisions that would help a block of text become more inviting. So I started with lot’s of choices, but ended up scaling back a lot. I wanted to bring the user face to face with the kind of restrictions that water limitations could face them not too far in the future. The minimalism of text also strips away the coating that society uses to get away with overusing resources.

I’ve often heard people use the religious argument that God made the earth for us, and it is there for us to use as we please. The problem with this argument is that it is a single story, that is dangerous like the ones that Chimamanda Adiche warns against in her TED talk “The Danger of a Single Story.” This argument contradicts other religious teachings within Mormon and Christian doctrine itself, as well as shows a lack of engagement and responsibility with the issues.I hope this game encourages users to come face to face with the realities and stakes with the issue of sustainability, and realize that these easy write-offs that we hear and repeat are dangerous, and the rhetoric needs to change.

http://water.usgs.gov/edu/qa-home-percapita.html