Does gamification hold the answer to tackling climate anxiety?
There is little doubt that as a global community we are facing significant crises – from climate breakdown, to biodiversity collapse and rampant economic inequality. Rather than focusing on the solutions to these intimately linked issues, however, efforts are often spent trying to convince the wider public and key decision makers that they are issues worth caring about in the first place.
While well-intentioned, in doing so this can be guilty of relying on ‘doom and gloom’ narratives to paint a stark picture of what to expect in the decades to come if significant changes aren’t made – rising sea levels, more frequent and hostile natural disasters, species extinction, people and wildlife displacement, societal breakdown. And while this is leading to a growing understanding and concern among the public, the constant reminder that not enough is being done risks widespread hopelessness and apathy, and so-called ‘climate anxiety’.
Studies have suggested that relying on scaring or shaming people into changing their behaviour is not only largely ineffective, but can even be counterproductive. So the challenge is, how can we help the public and decision makers acknowledge the seriousness of climate change and associated issues, while preserving our collective psychological wellbeing?
One way to shift the perspective might be to ask a completely different question: “What could the world look like if we have done things well?” This type of thinking is starting to take root thanks to the growing movements of Earth Optimism and Ocean Optimism, which focus on the solutions (real and potential) to environmental problems. But what if we could go further than this, what if we could make learning about the need to reduce our carbon emissions and how to support nature recovery interesting, and even (gasp at the thought of it) fun?
Every year, the University of Cambridge (of which I am an employee), runs a 'Carbon Challenge', an annual competition run by the University of Cambridge (this year in collaboration with Cambridge Zero), which invites small teams – made up of staff/students from University of Cambridge or Anglia Ruskin – to submit proposals for practical solutions to reducing carbon emissions. An eternal optimist and self-confessed lover of strategy games, when I saw that the theme of this year’s Carbon Challenge was ‘gamifying decarbonisation’, my interest was piqued. The judges wanted to see how gamification – using the elements of game playing (competitions, scoring, evoking a sense of achievement) – could be used to reduce carbon emissions.
After attending an ‘ideas jam’ session in February, I created a rough concept for a mobile strategy-based game that would help teach people not only why we need to change our current systems, but more importantly how we might do it. After all, how can anyone hope to achieve a goal if there is no positive vision to work towards? Harnessing skillsets in environmental sustainability, business planning and game app design, I formed a team of four from the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin, and our new game concept – given the preliminary title of CityJam – was born.
So how would the game work? As the player, you would start a level as a city’s new governor and be given the task of improving the city for your residents within a set period of game time (think SimCity meets Age of Empires – with that all-important environmental twist). To win the level, you need to reach a pre-set score which is informed by three health bars to reflect the so-called ‘pillars’ of sustainability – environment, society and economy.
As governor, you can decide which interventions you want to introduce to benefit your environment, society and/or economy – which would all have knock on consequences (positive or negative). For example, an intervention which is great for your economy and social bars (such as a high-speed rail which connects your city to the local suburbs) might come at a cost to your environmental health. Equally, an intervention that works wonders for your social bar (such as renovating a disused park) might have a positive effect on the environment as well but come at cost to your economy. The intention would be for these game interventions to be based on real life data from other cities (or a best guess for interventions that haven’t been trialled yet).
What players would inevitably see is that there are no straightforward solutions to creating sustainable, equitable cities and that trade-offs exist. Indeed, during the Covid-19 pandemic this year we have watched on as decision makers make tough choices as they weigh up virus transmission against mental health and economic stability.
The project was well-received by the judging panel, and we were delighted to learn that we secured runner up position in the competition. I am exploring the possibility of taking the concept forward, but if nothing else leading this project has taught me just how much potential gaming has on tackling climate change and climate anxiety. It might be difficult to say with any real certainty what value of gamification in an app like this could lead to, but frankly if we know that what we’re doing so far isn’t effective then it’s important we’re open to new ideas.
Harnessing optimism and creativity is essential if we are to have the endurance to drive forward the changes needed to secure a more sustainable future for both people and nature. Gamification offers us new opportunities to educate and engage people, and while it is yet to show conclusive results, the use of strategy games is already showing promise in areas such as health and climate politics. One reason for this might be that by being engaged in a game or a fun activity, we’re more open to learning and taking information without inducing fear.
For our longevity, we need an optimistic vision of a better world that we can collectively work towards, and not mistake optimism for complacency. One of the greatest promises of playing games is that if people can win in a virtual world that resembles their own, then there is the opportunity for them to believe in an ‘epic win’ in real-life too.
I would like to give thanks again to my team members – Victor Parchment (PhD candidate from UoC’s Department of History, Philosophy of Science), Viktor Izsof (Associate Lecturer, Programming and Development at Anglia Ruskin), and Lindy Knowles (MPhil student from UCCRI’s MPhil in Conservation Leadership Programme).
We were also given invaluable guidance throughout the project by industry expert Ian Saunter for which we were extremely grateful, as well as input of sustainable city and behaviour change research by University of Cambridge PhD candidate Emma Garnett.
Featured image by Lance Anderson on Unsplash.