What Is an Ecological Game?
First author: AbrahamYear: 2022
Abstract
This chapter asks what a truly ecological game looks like. It begins by considering the ecological resonances present in the terms used to describe certain kinds of environmental relationships in games. Considering the survival-crafting genre, often held up as a paragon of environmental interactions, the chapter examines the conventions of this genre and examines their implications, reevaluating their resemblance to environmental and ecological notions. Despite presenting bucolic natural environments and dynamics the chapter argues that these games are suffused with economic dynamics and the logic of capitalist accumulation. It argues for extending the ecological thought to encompass the context of game production and the sites of play that form the material conditions of gaming, concluding that the truly ecological game must be aware of and actively mitigate the harms involved in its own production, from carbon emission to plastics and rare earth metals.Details
Language: EnglishCountry of affiliation: Australia
Published in: Digital Games After Climate Change
Publication type: Book chapter
Source: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91705-0_3
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