Climate Crisis: Are Video Games Getting Greener?

From resource harvesting to the protection of the planet, video games have always seemed to be in direct contact with our environment. How do you deal with nature maintenance in the face of a major climate crisis?

Along with the terrorist group avalanche, you must destroy the industrial estate that is destroying the planet. Is it a scene directly inspired by the actions of the animal welfare organization L214 or the radical fringes of the Extinction Rebellion Group? None of them are more than or less than the first few hours of FINAL FANTASY VII video games. We then played Clad, a mercenary hired by a group of eco-terrorists to draw energy from Earth and undermine Moreira, a company called Gaia.

Resource Collection: First Connection to the Environment

The first simulation game encourages consideration of the specific dynamics of the environment around us, especially because the game system is based on resource management.

The goal is to explore territories and retrieve resources. There are always games that need to manage resources, but games that need to manage resources in the environment to build something are much rarer, with the goal not to be as “big” as possible. ”

Environmental protection, an excuse for a simple story?

When nature is not serving humans, it is just an excuse for a story, just to save nature and animals, whether to save the earth like FINAL FANTASY VII. Whether it’s for the sake of it. The themes of nature protection thus cross the video game, whether they are central or in the filigree of their narrative frameworks. The whole scenario of the famous Sonic The Hedgehog game thus consists in saving the animals kidnapped by Dr. Robotnik to be transformed into robots, a thinly veiled metaphor for the industrialization of society.

A little green industry?

Paradoxically, if video games adopt more ecological discourse within their production, the video game industry seems to be impervious to environmental issues. ” The video game industry depends on a very polluting industry which is the computer industry, testifies Thomas Versaveau. Looking at E3, the best video game show showing trends in the video game industry, this is always the most powerful console competition. Video games are a small tool for permanently selling ultra-technical fantasies and do not question the fact that we are experiencing a huge climate crisis –  see sell csgo skins.