Avatar Identities and Climate Change Action in Video Games: Analysis of Mitigation and Adaptation Practices

Title of the Paper

Avatar Identities and Climate Change Action in Video Games: Analysis of Mitigation and Adaptation Practices

Bibliographic Information

• Subject Area: Gamification and Climate Change Engagement Research
• Keywords: Gamification, Climate Change, Digital Games, Virtual Characters, Identity, Behavioral Motivation, Environmental Adaptation, Environmental Mitigation, Sustainability

Research Background and Issues

• Issues and Challenges:

  • Climate change poses a global threat to biodiversity and society, yet public awareness and active participation in addressing climate change remain insufficient.
  • Games are considered potential tools to stimulate engagement with climate change, but existing games lack comprehensive exploration of climate-related identities and actions.

• Significance:

  • Active public participation and cultural shifts are crucial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change.
  • Games can promote cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes through interactivity and immersive experiences, increasing support for climate policies and the feasibility of pro-environmental behaviors.

• Research Motivation:

  • To analyze how avatars in 80 digital games address climate change issues, classify player character identities, and examine their roles in climate mitigation and adaptation.

Solutions

• Research Methods:

  • Content analysis of 80 digital games featuring climate action elements.
  • Focus on the following key points:
    1. Types and characteristics of virtual character identities in games.
    2. How these characters address climate issues.
    3. The relationship between climate actions and game objectives.

• Identity Classification Method:

  • Using inductive and categorical text analysis to extract six major character identity types based on in-game behaviors, norms, and goal types.

• Innovations:

  • Proposed six categories of virtual characters, offering a new perspective on understanding the relationship between players and in-game characters/identities.
  • Conducted a systematic analysis of how these identities motivate players to engage in climate action.

Research Findings

• Character Identity Classification:

  • Climate Selves: Encourage players to directly change real-life behaviors, using their real-world identities to fulfill environmental goals.
  • Climate Citizens: Simulate everyday environmental actions in the virtual world, such as energy conservation and recycling.
  • Climate Heroes: Use professional tools or superpowers to solve climate problems.
  • Empowered Individuals: Operate in sandbox environments, acting as ordinary citizens performing individual actions or participating in group political decisions.
  • Authorities: Exercise power to manage resources and resolve conflicts at community, corporate, or broader levels.
  • Faction Leaders: Lead groups in interacting with external forces and formulating strategies to address environmental issues.

• Climate Issues and Actions:

  • Mitigation Actions: Include lifestyle changes, public engagement, technology use, energy substitution, policy advocacy, nature-based solutions, and violent measures.
  • Adaptation Actions: Less commonly featured in ordinary citizen roles, primarily concentrated in empowered individuals, authorities, and faction leaders.

• Relationship Between Characters and Game Objectives:

  • Climate selves, citizens, and heroes feature games where climate action is a primary objective.
  • In games with empowered individuals and leader roles, climate action is a subset of broader objectives but not the sole win condition.

• Experimental and Evaluation Results:

  • Identified major issues in climate change games, such as the lack of adaptive narratives, controversies around violent actions, and insufficient interaction complexity.
  • Practical experiences from some games, such as hybrid identity effects or open-ended action outcomes, can inform improvements in gamification strategies.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • The study primarily relies on content analysis of games without empirical data from player participation.
  • Future research could explore how different identity types stimulate players' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes regarding climate change.
  • Suggested developing more climate adaptation games from the perspective of ordinary citizens and optimizing sustainable practices in game design.