How to Save the Planet by Playing a Video Game
A technological solution to confront our climate crisis, integrated with the cyclical processes of nature, should itself be cyclical in nature.
Here’s an example. It is now possible to connect environmental data to video games in the cloud to heal our planet. Every technology we’d need to make this happen exists right now.
The earth is overlaid with a growing and interconnected network of sensors, monitors, and instruments, augmented by direct observations of scientists working in the field, that oversee the health of our soil, air, and water. Much of the data that’s collected using GIS, LiDAR, IoT, and other technologies is freely shared through such programs as the National Ecological Observation Network (NEON) and made available through various government agencies and NGOs. Every minute, this data provides us with an increasingly articulate diagnosis of our climate emergency.
Cloud computing allows us to pool different sorts of data together, analyze that data with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms, and develop more effective strategizes to act upon it. The cloud is ideally suited for storing, sharing, analyzing, and deploying environmental data for tangible climate action.
The video game industry has eclipsed every other entertainment industry in terms of audience and revenue, is now bigger than movies and music combined, and is more technologically attuned to human motivation and behavior than any other art form. Games command countless hours of engagement from billions of people around the globe via consoles, mobile devices, and PCs. Games now feature sophisticated digital marketplace platforms that generate billions in revenue, and they are increasingly developed on and delivered via the cloud.
We can easily configure earth data, the cloud, and video games in such a way as to confront our climate emergency. This process is called the World Integration Loop, or WIL. With the WIL, certain elements of the game experience are made dependent on fluctuations in environmental data; new quests or rewards are unlocked when certain environmental goals are met, and player motivation loops become intimately integrated with sustainability, restoration, and climate justice strategies. Revenue generated by games can support organizations engaged in positive climate action, which in turn provide the data used to build and inform the games.
This process establishes a self-reinforcing, positive feedback loop between gameplay and the health of the earth. The more people play, the more funding is generated to confront our climate crisis. The more direct climate action is initiated, the more data is generated. The more the earth heals, the more fun the game becomes. The WIL represents a new, positive way to connect the world in which we live to the worlds in which we play. In a sense, the earth itself becomes a player.
I’m not claiming that a video game can save the planet. I’m just saying its players can.
