Care to play? How gaming can benefit conservation outreach

August 14th, 2021

Gaming and conservation

Supported by almost three billion players and a burgeoning e-sports industry, video games continue to capture people’s attention around the world. From historical landscapes to cyborg wildlife, developers put countless hours into world-building for enhanced player experiences. Interaction with these simulated environments can even have the health benefits that being outdoors in nature does (van Houwelingen-Snippe et al. 2020). Importantly too, they offer an opportunity to foster interest and action in biodiversity conservation which is essential in view of accelerated species extinction rates. Conservation outreach has a long history within popular entertainment and consumer culture in North America. To this day, it often appears with corporate-NGO partnerships and brand campaigns that encourage sustainable living or charitable donations through social media, by nature documentaries and increasingly, with games. But how exactly can gaming benefit conservation outreach and what types of games could be most effective?

To answer the first question, we can look to research from game studies and human-environment geography. Basically, gaming can benefit conservation outreach through the emotional and psychological effects it produces, along with the interspecies connections this creates (Bianchi, 2017). Following the old idiom, games allow us to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, or in this case, someone else’s paws, fins, or wings, too. When we play and enter in-game environments we experience something called virtual embodiment. This phenomenon is more than creating an avatar or playing as a character. It means that the thoughts, feelings, memories — even bodily reactions to what we see and do virtually — influence our behaviour, sometimes in ways we don’t consciously recognize (Chang and Parham 2017). It is through this embodiment that we may develop connections not just with in-game phenomena, but through a blending of our virtual and nonvirtual realities. Further, where virtual embodiment leads to emotional connection and self-reflection, games find a role in conservation outreach by generating interest in animals and potential concern for their lives as beings beyond some economic or social value to humans (Chang, 2019). Either way, games can help to encourage conservation interest and action through a glimpse of conservation experience. With that in mind, here are three pathways where games may benefit conservation outreach:

#1 Playing the conservationist:

What is it like to work as a conservationist? Unseen Empire makes “the largest camera trap study in history playable”. From the team at Internet of Elephants, it incorporates elements from strategy and hidden object games to play through ten years of ecological research across countries in Southeast Asia. Sounds of the forest thrumming in the background, players get to set and collect camera traps, identify species, upgrade survey tools, establish new research sites and even participate in special challenges like “monkey selfie” competitions.

Games such as Unseen Empire provide an experience where the player virtually embodies a conservationist’s perspective. It exposes them to both the daily activities and the wider research networks that are involved in biodiversity conservation, grounded in a specific context where local species, communities, scientists and environments intertwine. By playing the conservationist, there is a chance to stimulate 'ecological awareness in a way that is already focused on action, regardless of age, ability, or expertise.

#2 Playing the animal:

Animal protagonists are nothing new to the gaming world, but few titles try to embody animal life the way that the Shelter series does. Described as an open world survival game, it also ventures into the simulation genre as players are tasked with navigating life as a badger, lynx, or elephant. While exploring the habitats of these animals, the aim goes beyond basic survival to themes of kinship and memory where their social lives are given focus.

Getting to know the complex lives of various species, even if it is in a more speculative or imaginative way, can urge players to rethink their co-existence with other beings. Where game mechanics and aesthetics emphasize living through the senses, skills and interactions of other animals, players are guided to reflect on the lived experiences of those species. These embodied encounters could cultivate notions of interspecies care and stewardship if familiarity turns to empathy, in and out of game.

#3 Playing with conservation:  

In many societies, there is still a common view of humans as being separate from nature. It is a perspective that emerged with certain historical, often Anglo-European modes of thought that now drive capitalist accumulation and the ongoing climate and biodiversity crises. The gaming industry contributes to this in its own way, but can also be a space to creatively and critically re-imagine human-environment relations for responsible ecological action. This pathway suggests that conservation outreach may emerge in unexpected ways through gaming. A popular example is Pokémon Go.

Researchers have examined the benefits and costs of this augmented reality (AR) game for conservation, showing how it not only gets people to go outside more, but teaches natural history concepts like habitat and species distribution (Dorward et al. 2017). At the height of its release, conservationists tried to play with the game by drawing attention to nonvirtual wildlife on screen too. Their engagement led to conversations about a parallel BioBlitz, #Pokeblitz, with players participating as citizen scientists both in the fictional Pokémon world and out of it. While there are downsides, it leaves us with questions about what might happen if the 100 million+ playing Pokémon Go had similar enthusiasm for nonvirtual natures encountered along the way.

Care to Play?

Human relationships with other animals are increasingly impacted by digital media like video games in ways that we might not recognize for years to come. By then it will already be too late for many species. Through an appeal to public action on environmental change, gaming provides opportunities for interspecies connection and reflection with virtually embodied experiences of conservation. It expands people’s engagement with biodiversity conservation in playful and educational ways. As a final note, this article barely breaches the surface of nuance required in discussions on human-animal relationships, environmental crisis, and the gaming industry in general. Neither does it suggest that responsibility be placed on individuals; but where gaming facilitates empathy and support, it brings awareness to the interconnected, yet diverse experiences of humans and other animals. For conservation outreach, gaming provides a space to explore hopes of a future where we continue to care and play together.

References

Bavelier, D., & Davidson, R. J. (2013). Games to do you good. Nature, 494(7438), 425–426. https://doi.org/10.1038/494425a

Bianchi, M. (2017). Inklings and Tentacled Things: Grasping at Kinship through Video Games // Inklings y cosas con tentáculos: Aferrarse al parentesco a través de videojuegos. Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment, 8(2), 136–150. https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2017.8.2.1354

Chang, A., & Parham, J. (2017). Green computer and video games: an introduction. Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment, 8(2), 1-17. http://ecozona.eu/article/view/1829/2095

Chang, A. Y. (2019). Playing nature: Ecology in video games (Vol. 58). U of Minnesota Press.

Dorward, L. J., Mittermeier, J. C., Sandbrook, C., & Spooner, F. (2017). Pokémon Go: Benefits, Costs, and Lessons for the Conservation Movement. Conservation Letters, 10(1), 160–165. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12326

van Houwelingen-Snippe, J., van Rompay, T. J. L., & Ben Allouch, S. (2020). Feeling Connected after Experiencing Digital Nature: A Survey Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(18), 6879. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17186879