Will Gamers Be the New Green Superheroes?
We’ve got no time for political games when it comes to the environment. But we may want to make more time for online gaming.
With more than 500 million gamers worldwide and a billion more expected in the next decade, there is no denying the collective power of their force. But can this very real human resource do more than save the virtual planet?
Jane McGonigal, a game designer at the Institute for the Future, says yes. In a fascinating TED talk, she described a gaming world producing a whole generation of “super-empowered hopeful individuals” who believe they are individually capable of changing the world. Just the kind of folks to tackle enormous problems such as climate change, deforestation, or giant ocean garbage patches.
McGonigal's big idea is to harness the power of their collaborative, problem-solving force that's been cultivated in the virtual world and apply it to real world problems.
Take the game, World Without Oil. Launched in 2007, it creates realistic scenarios for what gamers’ lives would be like after a massive oil shortage: a gamer, based on his or her geographic location, can simulate rising food costs and economic tumult and adjust his or her life to deal with these changes. Today, three years later, McGonigal says most of the 1,700 players who piloted the game kept up their gaming habits in their real lives.
A slightly different approach on the same idea is FarmVille’s recent initiative to promote organic farming by selling Cascadian Farm blueberries. It’s a new form of advertising for businesses to get their products into games, but, in this case, it’s also a means to educate a huge, unlikely audience about organic farming's benefits.
Those familiar with Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers will know of the interesting statistic that, for any activity, from learning music to computer programming, it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become a virtuoso. Turns out, gamers in developed countries spend about 10,000 hours gaming by the time they are 21.
I think McGonigal is on to something big. The John Muirs and Thoreaus walking the wilderness may have been the ones to first extol the virtue of saving the Earth, but perhaps it’s the gaming geeks who will finish the job. I say, let the games begin.
If you know of some good environmental social games out there, please share here so we can all join in the effort!
Photo credit: RebeccaPollard, Flickruser
Marah Hardt
is a research scientist, writer, and consultant. She has written for Yale e360, Ecology Letters, and The American Prospect.
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