Postgraduate Thesis
A Temporary Oasis: Environmental Storytelling In Video Games (2023)
10,933 words on Game Design as a tool for meaningful engagement with nature and climate change, written at the Slade School of Fine Art. Involved in-depth research into Game Studies and ludology.
Excerpt:
My hypothesis is that video games – while typically representing an environmentally disengaged counter-culture that has taken sanctuary from the overwhelming and depressing ecological moment – is actually, uniquely well-positioned and composed as a medium for engaging with the climate crisis.
It has multiple strategies to frame environmental discourse in a way that is highly relatable, whilst remaining seemingly distant enough in its intentions and metaphors to promote sustained, interested engagement. It both uses and extends strategies from literature, fictionalising and simplifying elements to get to the heart of what matters, presenting parallel narratives that make an understanding of the climate approachable. Additionally, the medium has unique properties for continuing the conversation – interaction with the non-human, the learning of systems, rehearsal of consequences – which mirror primary concerns in ecological thinking, whilst promoting creative thought and problem-solving. These systems prioritise accessibility, allowing users to play within orbit of these ideas, transforming climate paralysis, anxiety and defeatism into mobility, and the environment into a traversable model with a rational solution.
Video games can be conceived of as an ingenious tool, with multiple strategies, for facing reality – breaking it down and making it addressable for the global majority, playing games for a sense of agency in the world.
My hypothesis is that video games – while typically representing an environmentally disengaged counter-culture that has taken sanctuary from the overwhelming and depressing ecological moment – is actually, uniquely well-positioned and composed as a medium for engaging with the climate crisis.
It has multiple strategies to frame environmental discourse in a way that is highly relatable, whilst remaining seemingly distant enough in its intentions and metaphors to promote sustained, interested engagement. It both uses and extends strategies from literature, fictionalising and simplifying elements to get to the heart of what matters, presenting parallel narratives that make an understanding of the climate approachable. Additionally, the medium has unique properties for continuing the conversation – interaction with the non-human, the learning of systems, rehearsal of consequences – which mirror primary concerns in ecological thinking, whilst promoting creative thought and problem-solving. These systems prioritise accessibility, allowing users to play within orbit of these ideas, transforming climate paralysis, anxiety and defeatism into mobility, and the environment into a traversable model with a rational solution.
Video games can be conceived of as an ingenious tool, with multiple strategies, for facing reality – breaking it down and making it addressable for the global majority, playing games for a sense of agency in the world.
My ongoing research is generally situated at the boundary between nature and video games. Please visit the Hermit House Patreon, where we regularly release updates on game development in tandem with relevant marine and climate research.
