Do you remember when magazines could go on big diatribes about random gumpf because their readers had an attention span greater than an Alzheimic goldfish?... of course not, I'm just being old. I was just reading about the demise of PC Zone magazine (anyone ever buy that?) and lamenting the loss of it’s type of 90’s journalism, did you know Charlie Brooker started out writing for them? Anyway, it made me think, what about computer games!
Now I reckon there’s probably dozens of crappy ‘educational’ children’s games that teach people to look after the planet. BARF. But I’m talking about games for grown ups (ahem).
Management of resources is something all animals, including humans, do instinctively. However problems arise when the perceived resources are a poor reflection of reality. Examples: West Canada ‘oh there’s so many fish here you can walk on the sea! Come over and bring all the family’. Now even after decades with no fishing, the cod stocks haven’t recovered because their population is just too low to regenerate.
How does this relate to computer games? When the player is God with an omniscient view over all the resources available they deduce an effective strategy to utilise the resources that doesn’t screw over their chances of success. They are invested in the whole scheme of things and want it to succeed.
In games many of us have experienced that feeling of horror as a superior force of tanks descends on a valuable but poorly defended outpost. Noooo my refinery!
If only the same horror was felt as acutely when illegal loggers plough through primary Madagascan forest. Noooo my carbon sink and rare endemic habitat!
Ok, I know the link is tenuous. For one, the events that take place on our computer screens are entirely controlled by us, we are empowered to do something because we know it’s in our remit to sort it out and win the game. In the real world trying to save resources is a complicated, slow business and the effectiveness of individual efforts can seem negligible.
Just do something! Positive thinking pointed everyone in the right direction 20 years ago in Rio at the Earth Summit. This year’s Rio +20 summit is surrounded by miserable gits and negativity, people digging in their heels because the economy is so bloody scary. Anyone who knows me will tell you I’m not exactly a ray of sunshine, but it would seem that sulking doesn’t really achieve much (I know, I'm a gods damn genius!).
Email your MP to tell him that you’d rather we didn’t wreck this planet, at least until we have the technology to travel to Alpha Centauri, ohhhh he di’it!
So what you're trying to say is that we've got to be economical with resources in order to defeat the Zerg? Cool!
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