Ecogames: Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis

With the climate crisis and its repercussions becoming more and more tangible, games are increasingly participating in the production, circulation, and interrogation of environmental assumptions, using both explicit and implicit ways of framing the crisis. Whether they are providing new spaces to imagine and practice alternative forms of living, or reproducing ecomodernist fantasies, games as well as player cultures are increasingly tuned in to the most pressing environmental concerns.

This book brings together chapters by a diverse group of established and emerging authors to develop a growing body of scholarship that explores the shape, impact, and cultural context of ecogames. The book comprises four thematic sections, Today’s Challenges: Games for Change, Future Worlds: New Imaginaries, The Nonhuman Turn, and Critical Metagaming Practices. Each section explores different aspects of ecocritical engagement in and through games. As a result, the book’s comprehensive scope covers a variety of angles, methodologies, and case studies, significantly expanding the field of green media studies.

Laura op de Beke is Assistant Professor of Interactive Media, Screens, and Interfaces at the Faculty of Humanities of Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Joost Raessens is Full Professor and Chair of Media Theory at the Faculty of Humanities of Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Stefan Werning is Associate Professor of New Media and Game Studies at the Faculty of Humanities of Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Gerald Farca is Professor for Game Design at the Faculty of Business, Design, and Technology at Macromedia University of Applied Sciences, Munich, Germany.