An attendee playing a video game at the Paris Games Week. Photo Credit: Reuters. Illustrations by Annika Brandow for Survive the Century, a climate fiction game about the political, environmental and social choices humans will face between 2021 and 2100. Handout via Survive the Century
Society USANew Online Game Lets Players Fight for Climate Change
A brand new interactive game invites players to navigate through the planet’s future and make decisions along the way, encouraging them to think about climate change – and even release the climate anxiety they might suffer from.
“This is a game for everyone, but particularly for climate nihilistic Gen Z’s who know about climate change and feel hopeless and frustrated at the inaction they are seeing,” says Samantha Beckbessinger, an author and creator of the game Survive the Century. “We wanted to engage them with a sense of hopefulness that the future is long and there are a lot of choices ahead of us. Play can be an incredibly powerful way to engage people and it isn’t didactic, it doesn’t aim to tell you facts and things to do, it lets you play and explore.”
The U.S.-based research group, the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, put together scientists, economists, and writers to create this interactive game designed to bring ordinary people into the climate change debate. Many scenarios taking place from 2021 to 2100 are proposed, and decisions need to be made, anywhere from vaccine roll-outs to funding technological innovations. Once the game is over, information about the nearest climate organizations is given to players.
