As members of Team Green Facilities and Services, we are always looking for new ways to educate and engage people with issues of sustainability! In our digital age, one of the effective ways to do that is through interactive online computer games! Not just for kids by any means, I have played them all, learning something new in each. Below is a list of some of the ones I discovered:
Power up is a 3D simulation game in which you are given a character and you must help prevent the “planetary crises” that has occurred in the game world (and also ours), stemming from the misuse of fossil fuels and high levels of carbon emissions! Because it can be a multiplayer game, you can fly solo or team up with friends to go on missions to help generate green energy through building turbines and solar towers, and attempt to prevent the occurrences of natural disasters resulting from climate change by exploring different worlds and working on projects. This is an immersive experience as you take on a character with a customized name, and talk with other characters like green engineers, to gain information. (I got particularly engaged with this one!)
Click Here for the link to download the P
ower Up game on your computer.
The things we can do in our own homes to save energy, be environmentally friendly, and save money, are relatively well known i.e. shut off the lights, use less water, don’t leave the refrigerator door open, etc. But it is not often we know how much each one is affecting our sustainability. On the website linked below, there are three mini-games devoted to tackling this information. In the first, named the “Environmental Game,” you are given a “sustainability meter” and you must make sustainable choices for your simulated house about location, water, activities, electricity, and waste. The challenge? You can only pick 3 out of the list of choices, so in order to have a high “sustainability score,” you must be strategic in your selection. The site also offers an animated “Building Game”in which you must build a house as eco-friendly and cost effectively as you can. the game documents your expenditure, budget, balance, and sustainability level. Lastly the “Town Game” is a one that shows you an overall picture of an allotted landscape, and you must decide how to manage certain scenarios for your town under certain circumstances i.e. what will you do in the instance of an increase in the town’s population? While a seemingly simple answer of building more houses comes to mind, the location, layout, density, and energy supply for these homes determines whether your town will be happy and sustainable.
Click here for a link to the site.
In Electrocity, you can build your own cities and towns while simultaneously learning about electricity, green energy, and environmental management. You can construct, demolish, let things stand in the town, all to create a well budgeted and sustainable village. Build gas plants, add forests, upgrade your wind farms, and most importantly, make sure your citizens have jobs, happiness, and clean energy. You are scored based on your security of supply, your popularity, your population, and your environmental score, receiving letter grades in each.
Click here to play Electrocity now.
Lastly, in this “Fish Game,” you have to make it through 10 days of fishing while still feeding your family but also not depleting the school. You have to make correct choices about how many fish to catch in order to complete the game and make it through all ten days. What’s the catch (ha!)? Each night, the remaining fish in the ocean will only regenerate at rate of 25%! Without a fish school, there’s no game and there’s definitely no learning!
Click here to access the link to the game!
Written by Julie Elliot, Class of 2015