Games on Climate Change: Identifying Development Potentials through Advanced Classification and Game Characteristics Mapping

• Main Authors: Andreas Gerber, Markus Ulrich, Flurin X. Wäger, Marta Roca-Puigròs, João S. V. Gonçalves, Patrick Wäger
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-02-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: climate education; game; serious game; simulation game; simulation and gaming; mapping review
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1997

The challenges posed to humanity by climate change require innovative approaches. Well-designed games are powerful tools with the potential to support solving climate related challenges. In this article, we present a mapping review study of games that address climate change issues (climate games). In a search and selection process, we identified 115 climate games that were classified by applying a newly developed game typology. This allowed gaining an overview of existing climate games and identifying potentials for future game development. The game classification revealed that the majority of climate games (75%) were designed for learning purposes and addressed heterogeneous target audiences such as students, professionals, or the “general public”. The identified games covered a wide range of characteristics, e.g., regarding the topic addressed, player interaction, game-play, level of abstraction, or the media used for play. Nevertheless, we identified areas where only few or no games were found. These “gaps” provide opportunities where future games could help solving climate challenges and include, amongst others, games designed for professionals to address specific needs and games that create a direct impact outside the game environment. Regarding game design, experimenting with the abstraction of games is currently underexplored and offers potential for future developments.