Gaming is probably among the most energy intensive activities you can do with a PC, but some research suggests climate themes in games can increase awareness:
“Of 389,594 respondents (split evenly across men and women with the greatest number between the ages of 21 to 39), 78.6% believe that gaming could help them learn about the environment and 35.4% want to see more environmental content in their games. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (61.1%) said they would be motivated to pay for environmentalist content if it added to their in-game experience, supported a good cause, or taught them something new.”
I think we could really use a game with gun nuts wearing MAGA hats driving around SUVs and pickup trucks (who the player must dodge on their bicycle), banks that invest in fossil fuels, various corporations that should be boycotted, like #Sony (who supports climate denial through its #ALEC membership) - and who has some green washing trickery according to the same article:
“When Sony pledges to plant trees for every “Reached the Daunt” trophy earned by players of Horizon: Forbidden West, an effort promoted as part of the 2022 Green Game Jam, it raises the spectre of greenwashing. Sony recently announced that it was accelerating its net zero commitments by 10 years, but 2020 emissions stemming from the use of its TVs and game consoles were the highest they’ve been since 2016, according to its 2021 sustainability report. Furthermore, an eye-watering 17.1m tons of C02 were created over the course of its products’ life-cycles, with a further 1.4m tons emitted from the company’s business sites. Next to these numbers, it’s hard to see tree-planting as anything other than trivial.”