The game ElectroCity is was developed as a public awareness tool teaching resources management and energy production. The site is suitable for upper secondary students and adults, with class discussion and critical thinking exercises.
It does have some issues, and is paid for by a major energy provider with interests in continuing the status quo and use of fossil fuels.
The Game
Players are given control of a small NZ town, and have to develop it while balancing its energy and environmental needs. The towns citizens need electricity and jobs, but they also love their clean green image, and your popularity as "mayor" suffers if the environment is too polluted.
Issues
ElectroCity is sponsored by Genesis Energy, a generator and retailer of energy in New Zealand, using a range of sources including gas, coal, wind and water. The sites FAQ states that "ElectroCity [does not have a political bias or agenda]. The goal has been to represent reality as best we can, in a simplified and fun world. It's a game of pros and cons, trade-offs and balances."
It should be noted that in the game, while building coal and gas stations does pollute your environment, as does mining both options, they are both easily offset by simple "clean ups" and pollution reduction schemes. Renewables are high in price, and do not generate nearly enough electricity when combined - to get a high score, the player is forced to use fossil fuels. It is also impossible to get a high score without significant economic development, which happens when taxes are low and many energy guzzling features, such as stadiums, docks and airports and ski fields, are built (necessitating the use of fossil fuels).
To be fair to the developers, the above is largely representative of the status quo, and the game doesn't explicitly claim to be inspirational or futures based. It does claim, however, to "teach players all about energy, sustainability and environmental management in New Zealand." The FAQ states that Genesis Energy funded the game as "Genesis Energy sees a wider public understanding of energy management - even at this simplified level - as crucial. The higher the public interest, the better the general understanding, the more informed the debate, the better for everyone." This game, however, does not encourage critical thinking around energy production and largely teaches players to accept the status quo in terms of energy production.
Studies show that we remember well when enjoying ourselves, and that when playing games, people are in a relaxed mode and are therefore less critical and less conscious of past experiences (Codone 2001; Lin, Gregory, & Huangz 2008). Defenses are also down in an informal setting, assuring low, or little resistance to intended learning values. By couching the game as a sustainability tool, and providing it free of charge to teachers (along with teachers resources) the energy company is attempting to dictate the terms of future conversations about energy production methods, and to subconsciously influence younger players (those least likely to be invested in the status quo) to accept business as usual.
Conclusion
The game may be useful as a tool in a wider critical thinking exercise about greenwashing and the use of the "sustainability" mantle by current dominant players. It may also be a useful learning tool to understand how current power-development systems function.
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