Understanding the Nature and Effects of Digital Games in Promoting Sustainability

Abstract

Based on an understanding of the goals and strategies that are most likely to produce successful sustainability transitions this paper aims to expand our understanding of how digital games can be used to advance such initiatives. The paper first reviews the benefits that games provide to their users and therefore explain their widespread adoption. Afterwards, the paper discusses more specific contributions that games can make to motivate active involvement, advance the understanding of sustainability issues and the elaboration of solutions, enable community support and political advocacy for the sustainability causes, and, finally, help citizens act in local, incremental, non-disruptive yet durable ways. Different types of games are proposed as more appropriate for providing each of these four contributions.

Keywords

• sustainability
• digital games
• serious games
• citizen scientists
• political advocacy
• pervasive games