Game-based Climate Change Engagement: Analyzing the Potential of Entertainment and Serious Games
Game-based Climate Change Engagement: Analyzing the Potential of Entertainment and Serious Games
Game-based Climate Change Engagement: Analyzing the Potential of Entertainment and Serious Games
By Daniel Fernandez Galeote and Juho Hamari
Abstract
“Video games have risen as a popular medium with the potential to become a powerful tool for public climate change engagement. However, little is known about how existing digital games can fulfill this role. This study systematically compiles 150 video games that represent climate change, including serious (n = 109) and for entertainment (n = 41). The games are analyzed by adapting an existing framework (15 dimensions: achievable, challenging, concrete, credible, efficacy-enhancing, experiential learning, feedback-oriented, fun, identity driven, levelling-up, meaningful, narrative-driven, reward-driven, simulating, social) and statistically compared. The analysis reveals that most games comply with most recommended attributes, but credibility, achievability, meaningfulness, and social features are uncommon or rare. Statistical results comparing serious games endgames for entertainment associate six attributes with serious games (achievable, challenging, credible, efficacy-enhancing, experiential learning, feedback-oriented), and one (narrative-driven) with games for entertainment. The findings suggest that researchers would benefit from widening their lens to detect previously overlooked opportunities for game-based climate change engagement, communication, and education. The study also provides a systematic mapping of extant games depicting climate change for interested developers, designers and educators.”
Reference
Fernández Galeote, D., &; Hamari, J. (2021). Game-based Climate Change Engagement. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 5(CHI PLAY), 1-21. doi:10.1145/3474653 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3474653?sid=SCITRUS
Keyword
Games, gamification, game-based learning, serious games, video games, digital games, education, climate change engagement, global warming, sustainability, research