Green Living Through Gaming

December 6, 2007 Gaming for All, Green Gaming No Comments

I stumbled across coda.coza while wandering the wild reaches of the net and read his post on green living. He is currently collecting 100 tips (he’s at 78 right now) on how to help conserve for the planet. After he collects all 100, then he’s going to distribute them in user-friendly formats for distribution across the web: PDFs, wallpapers, screen savers, etc.

This got me thinking…this whole green thing isn’t a phase that’s gonna disappear like so many other trends. Right now, countries are working to create a new Kyoto Protocol so that they’ll be able to do their part in helping the environment, but what about gamers?

Seriously.

Back in the early ’90s there was Captain Planet and he was trying to teach kids the importance of helping out the world. This isn’t a half-bad idea. Why don’t game designers come up with a creative way to help save the planet? It doesn’t have to be under the guise of educational programming, it can be an honest-to-goodness real, good, quality game.

I mean, if Al Gore can make money off giving a slideshow for a movie (and anyone who’s seen An Incontinent Truth knows exactly what I’m talking about), then clearly there’s a market for this type of genre. All that we need the developers to do is to think about this project in a new and unique way. Think about how to make a game that is engaging, environmental and fun and the buyers will come.

What will the controversy be then? Too many parents want to buy the game for their kids because it’s actually good? Heaven forbid.