An inconvenient game?

#1 This is awesome!! Wish I was a student and could participate. Having chosen programming over documentary film making(switch in college) I've always wanted games to somehow someday be an outlet for making a difference in the world beyond just giving people a good time(which by itself is more than a little bit of goodness to provide to the world). I've talked with people about the possibility of documentary games. My big dream game is an Ocean simulation where you are the one making the documentary which you can play at when you finish the game. Is that probably not a mainstream game idea? Yeah. But that's what is cool about Indie Games.

#2 Strangely enough, I'm still an eternal Masters student...Too bad my life is in the crapper right now.

#3 You should blog more often! 10 months in between is too long! :-)

#4

Quote:How cool would it be to see a Torque X global warming game on XBLA? Hmm...

You mean one that just takes your money and does nothing substantial?

*ducks*

#5 Unchecked capitalism, big corporations, and the ensuing rampant consumerism culture they propogate are the reasons we have a thinning atmosphere in the first place. Microsoft taking a stand against climate change reeks of greenwashing. Starbucks did some greenwashing a few months ago with their own game on climate change. An opportunity for game developers, sure. But revolutionary or sincere, far from. Solutions will be grassroots, not from corporations. The idea that corporations are helping the problem obscures their role in creating it.
No one has benefitted more from capitalism than Microsoft, and there's no greater cause for climate change than that same capitalism. Furthermore it reinforces the paradigm of complacentcy to an all-powerful "other" instead of empowering ourselves. Boycott the contest and create your own game independently. This is free advertising for Microsoft via PR at its worst. "Climate change" is a meme with our generation, so what does Microsoft do, co-opt it. Smart marketing.

#6 @Joshua Dallman

Quote:Unchecked capitalism, big corporations, and the ensuing rampant consumerism culture they propogate are the reasons we have a thinning atmosphere in the first place.

I think it is a little bit more complex than that.

I don't know if making it 'us against them' is going to help make progress. I know that there are a lot of fingers to point, but you just essentially blamed everyone in the first world countries and then said that the solution is that we should all be isolationists(independants).

I used to agree. But then one day I realised that my isolated blaming wasn't actually doing any good. That moment was when a comedian said he can't stand people who think they are too good for politics, because they accomplish nothing. Isolation from capitalism and big corporations and consumerism doesn't stop them from being bad. Why not work with them and fight for a change.

I don't know, just my thoughts. Glad you said yours.

#7 Anarchy doesn't work. The end.

#8 Thats a cool idea they have going there -seems the big 'uns all over are doing contests these days.

And besides that, Big Corps are made out of people like you, me, and that one over there. All consuming, wanting better salary and letting out 'hot' air.

Every contest brings out creativitity -and that have allways been the best puch forward!

'njoy

#9 @Anton

Quote:I think it is a little bit more complex than that.

Absolutely right. Let's play the game:

Quote:
Methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gas, behind only carbon dioxide, according to the new report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change...Much man-made methane comes from a surprising low-tech source, "It's cows burping," said Elaine Matthews, a methane expert at the Goddard Institute fro Space Studies, explaining that cud-chewing animals like cows and sheep, along with other agricultural animals and processes, release enough methane to double the natural concentration in the atmosphere.

Source:
scienceline.org/2007/03/23/env_knight_ipcccows/

Quote:India has the largest concentration of livestock in the world,(250-300 million cattle, 60 million water buffalo, 120 million goats, and 40 million sheep), having one-third of the world's cattle on approximately 3 percent of the world's land area.

Source:
tedeboy.tripod.com/drmichaelwfox/id47.html

Is India going to raise the emissions standards for cows? Are they going to have a paradigm shift and suddenly not hold them as "holy", and chow down on a few good steaks (or bad ones considering the livestock there is in an appalling condition -- which further adds to their "increased emissions problems")? Are cows covered in the Kyoto Protocol? Oh wait, India is not held responsible for their emissions under Kyoto...in fact none of the major developing countries like China, India, Brazil, and Mexico--are covered by the accord...and let's not forget rice paddies...

See how easy it is? We, as people, like to paint the canvas with broad brushes and think we have discovered some profound and mystic truth. "I can tell you whose fault it is, it is some faceless amorphous entity that preys on the innocent, never satisfied and is always growing and of course is very distinct from the "real" humanity and evil to its core. Oh, and definitely not me, in case you were wondering."

But it's just not that simple. Never was and never will be.

The problem encompasses all of us and the solution is not some stark, epic, black and white struggle against a vast evil conspiracy but more like a lot of little struggles in the grays and shadows that we all can claim having a part of at one time or another.

But blaming someone other than ourselves is a lot more fun...

#10 Seems like a positive step, although I think Joshua is right about it being greenwashing. Global warming is practically mainstream these days, and I'm sure they wouldn't be doing it if they thought it was really going to piss anybody off. Still, it might spread awareness and that's a good thing even if the motives are a little suspect.

What I want to know is what Microsoft is gonna do when I try to publish a historical game about American foreign policy on the XBox.

EDIT:
@Ken: Anarchy doesn't work, agreed. Got anything that does work, while you're at it?

#11 Anyone remember SimEarth? It had a global warming effect built in. And if I'm remembering correctly, didn't Civ II include global warming as an effect? Just noting that global warming has been around in games for some time.

As far as games made for social/political change, I'd say why not? I remember somebody saying some years back (probably Ray Kurzweil) that video games could be the next great art form. Whether they have or could become that or not, social and political commentary is pretty common in many games, though not always obvious.

In any case, while it might kill us all, global warming at least provides new fodder for post-apocalyptic-type RPG games. Nuclear war was getting a little old...

#12 @Alan, you neglected this information:

Quote:Attempting to get the most milk or meat from animals, dairy farmers and ranchers commonly feed their cows three or four times the amount necessary for the animals to maintain their weights. Because a cow's methane production depends on the amount of food they eat, overfeeding increases methane emissions.

Let's ask why it is that farmers have to go against what nature intended to overfeed these cows in the first place. To stay competitive in the capitalist marketplace just so they can survive, not even thrive but survive. If our economic system valued farmers more, and valued the environment more, they wouldn't have to be so competitive in the first place and we could all still eat our cow.

Yes the issue is complex with many contributing causes, but it's undeniable that one of the major causes is an economic system that places value only on production and profit and nothing on the environment and humanity. Corporations are fictional entities that exist only as a legal construct on paper, they cannot care about the environment, and doing so is in opposition of what they were engineered for (profit). When I see blatant greenwashing by the likes of Starbucks, Microsoft, BP, whomever, it makes me sick, especially when people think these companies actually care or that their greenwashing will really make a difference. Maybe some person there cares, but not the company, and not the economic system behind the company.

Why no game sponsorship by Microsoft to address timeless issues like AIDS, rainforest destruction, and poverty? Wouldn't that be ironic -- Microsoft sponsors a game design competition to raise awareness of poverty. But poverty etc aren't hot memes right now and global warming is, all they're doing is capitalizing on it (like they were designed to do) and anyone who participates is just going right along with it. Which is fine if that's your choice, but be aware and ask questions about what's really going on and what intentions are behind them.

Don't you think MS could just throw a $10k bill at someone and have them make the game themself? But that wouldn't get the PR and image of goodwill such a contest like this brings, which is all they're trying to do anyway. Put on a contest, look like a hero, have it propogate through the blogosphere. And it worked.

#13 I'm calling shenanigans on feeding the cows 4x the amount of food necessary. If you could get 4 cows for the price of one, they'd do it in a heartbeat. You can't claim that farmers are capitalist drones and wasting money at the same time.

You seem to be complaining that corporations only do what is profitable and because of that they will never change. Corporations change their policies whenever consumer opinion about that policy affects purchases. This is the primary mechanism of change in a capitalist society. Consumer opinion changes, companies change their behavior in order to remain competitive. You should be happy every time public opinion changes in favor of environmentalism or a corporation recognizes that change (as is the case here).

Quote:Wouldn't that be ironic -- Microsoft sponsors a game design competition to raise awareness of poverty.

Almost as ironic as millionaire musicians holding concerts for the same thing, or people without aids raising awareness of aids, free people having a rally for someone in prison - oh wait that's not ironic at all, unless MS is going around making people poor and aids activists are going around giving people aids.

If you were paying any attention, you'd know that the Gates Foundation has spent billions on global health charity - it's one of the largest charitable foundations in the world.

#14

Quote:Corporations change their policies whenever consumer opinion about that policy affects purchases. This is the primary mechanism of change in a capitalist society.

This is true, but the fact that it is such a terrible mechanism for change explains exactly how we got to the sorry state we're in. The vast majority of consumers don't know or care about the effects of their purchases, and as a rule they don't take part in effective boycotts, except for highly hyped poster-child cases like dolphin-safe tuna. Even there, all the companies have to do is make token modifications or just straight up lie (dolphin-safe tuna doesn't legally mean a thing, BTW) and 99% of the public considers it a job well done and goes back to what they were doing.

Add to this the fact that the vast majority of the public gets practically all of their information from mainstream media outlets which are owned by TEN multinational corporations (not making that up, there are TEN) and you find that not only consumer opinion but democracy itself is entirely beholden to a small number of financially motivated corporate entities. This is not a recipe for a just and sustainable future. IMHO.

#15 Bill Gates has donated more money than anyone else in history. I'm not saying he didn't do anything bad in his career, but when you are the kid who gets fed and medicine, you don't care that the guy who paid for it is getting good PR... or doing it for PR. You just like not dieing.

There's gotta be a balance between laying blame and doing good. This is why I don't like it when people are polar in either way, for or against. There's nothing wrong with people being complex. People do good and they do bad and they do bad and it does good and they do good and it turns out bad. That's life. You try to do the best you can. For students who want to get some attention as game developers, this contest is great for them. And there's nothing stopping someone from making an amazing game that really does promote global change for the better.

#16 Mark, if you keep that picture for your profile I'm going to start calling you Obie-wan-Frohnie. Hope you're okay with that.

#17 Wow, how to miss the point.

And yeah, he should have thrown 10k bill at someone instead of at that silly Gates Foundation that's somehow managed to suck up 5 Billion of his pocket change.

#18 The Gates Foundation is one of the largest charitable foundations in the world because he's the richest man in the world. Again instead look at the big picture. Why is Bill the richest man in the world in the first place. Bigger picture. Why are corporations so rich. Because they're so good at doing one focused task, and that's accruing wealth at the expense of everything else, including human happiness, including the environment, and we let them as long as they toss us a PR bone like greenwashing video game contests or 10% of wealth donations to self-serving foundations to keep us complacent. If this contest were sponsored by a government or NGO I'd say great, but as it stands it's only a vehicle for promoting Microsoft as caring and cool and I'm calling BS on it.

As an aside, check out the politics behind another social problem video game called Village: The Game. That's another one loaded with irony. You have third world impoverishment that's driven by capitalism, and the solution the game offers to this problem? More capitalism! Build up industry in third world countries to solve the problems created by industry in wealthier countires! Brilliant.

I'm not saying all social awareness games are bad. You can do good with games. I think what Andy is doing with his Wildlife Tycoon series is great, it's grassroots bottom-up, not spoon-fed corporate top-down. That is to say, it's indie and it's genuine. He's as interested in promoting the ideas behind them as he is being able to survive as an indie studio. It's not a tax write-off for him. It's not a PR stunt. It's not greenwashing. This contest, however, is.

#19 I love fictional games, it should be great.

#20 @Joshua Dallman

About Village: The Game, I couldn't agree more.