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The Garden in the Machine: Video Games and Environmental Consciousness

First author: Brown
Year: 2014


Abstract

“The Garden in the Machine” looks at how video games might raise environmental consciousness and compel thought about human-environment relations. Although games are deeply embedded within networks of exploitation and environmental degradation, they might provide a basis for thinking environmental issues in three ways: as procedural arguments, as spatial allegory, and as simulated, ethically disposed boredom. While independent games like Fort McMoney (2014) attempt to overtly intervene in discourses about oil, energy, and environmental degradation, many popular games like Far Cry 4 (2014) offer a more complex simulation of natural spaces that might be read as allegories for the discursive position of “nature” in modern society. Finally, a third type of game, exemplified by Proteus (2013), forces its users to withhold from the violent exploitation of nature, compelling instead a contemplative attitude toward the world.


Details

Language: English
Country of affiliation: -


Published in: Philological Quarterly
Publication type: Journal article


Source: https://www.proquest.com/docview/1698103038/fulltext/A30ABC70A0A347DFPQ/1?accountid=13042&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals


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