How Minecraft and other video games are teaching kids about climate change – Reckon

In early April, more than 60 million people were tasked with tracking down and defeating a fire-breathing golden dragon terrorizing vulnerable villages.

In other words, it's a digital village in the metaverse of Minecraft, a video game where many users can explore and build their own worlds. In this new Minecraft minigame, Heatwave Survival, players will face off against a heat dragon. The Heat Dragon is a villain created by developers to represent the deadly threat of extreme heat due to rising global temperatures.

This is just one of the many ways climate change is seeping into game night. Around the world, developers and designers are intentionally weaving climate change characters and potential solutions like Heat Dragon into board and video games to engage users in the fight to slow global warming. I'm here.

We're currently investigating how climate change is growing in the game world and what it means for the real world.

climate gamer: The main goal of Minecraft's Heat Wave Survival is to defeat the powerful heat dragon, but throughout the mission players will learn how to recognize the symptoms of heat-related illnesses and learn things like staying hydrated and finding a cool spot. Get tips on how to best respond. Space newspaper, Fast Company reports.

The team, led by the nonprofit Adrienne Arsht Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, is also developing a second game in the series in which players will be in charge of building their own cities powered by renewable energy. Optionally, heat-resistant infrastructure can also be installed. As a shade structure. The game is primarily aimed at young students.

However, this is not the first effort of this kind. In 2019, the United Nations launched the Playing for the Planet Alliance to help the video game industry reduce its environmental footprint and empower players to join the fight against climate change.

The alliance, which includes dozens of member companies including Sony and Google, hosts an annual “Green Game Jam” to encourage companies to incorporate more environmentally friendly themes into their games. In 2023, developers added conservation elements to 41 games, Bloomberg reported. For example, Rovio Entertainment has added temporary new challenges to its popular game Angry Birds. In this challenge, users were tasked with saving a hypothetical endangered animal in the Amazon.

However, the video game industry itself has its own emissions issues to consider. In addition to the energy required to play games, engineers use large amounts of energy to power computers during development, and large amounts of plastic and batteries are used to manufacture gaming accessories and devices. This can increase the problem of e-waste after use. After being disposed of, Claire Asher writes a letter to Mongabay.

A December CNET report found that while “only some gaming companies publish climate impact data,” developers are making efforts to reduce emissions through the use of renewable energy in their supply chains. was found to be increasing.

Clean energy simulation: Outside of the virtual world, a new energy-oriented version of the classic board game Settlers of Catan will be released this summer. The original version was created in his 1995 and required players to create their own country from scratch on an undeveloped island. The new game, titled “Catan: New Energies,” further introduces the modern struggles and associated emissions associated with rapid industrial growth.

In the game, players must choose between investing in expensive clean energy options or cheaper but more polluting fossil fuels (sound familiar?). According to the Catan website, Catan: New Energy does not explicitly mention the term climate change, but if pollutant levels get too high, “the game ends in disaster,” and most The player with the most renewable energy tokens wins.

Benjamin Teuber, co-developer of the new game, told NPR that the testing team was “constantly dealing with overcontamination” during development.

But games offer endless opportunities to explore how to deal with runaway emissions. “We had a heated discussion afterward,” Teuber said. “We all kind of felt bad about it. We learned a thing or two, but we played differently the next game.”

But what about in the real world? According to the survey, I don't Are there endless opportunities to reduce emissions before climate change irreversibly alters ecosystems and cities? Sam Illingworth, a game developer and science communication expert at Edinburgh Napier University in the UK, says board games and simulations can “encourage players to learn about the climate crisis and motivate them to take action”. I mentioned this in a conversation.

“We believe games like this can play an important role in promoting understanding, dialogue and action as we face the urgent challenges of the future.”

This article was first published internal climate news, a nonprofit, independent news organization covering climate, energy, and the environment. Republished with permission.Sign up for newsletter here.