The Guardian‘s GamesBlog is ruminating on a pretty interesting concept: that video games actually help us grasp the concepts of recycling, reusing, and working with the environment.
Energy and item conservation are vital components of all combat games. In survival horror, no bullet is wasted, no herb squandered, while in RPGs the obsessive collection and management of weapons, potions and foodstuffs makes up a significant element of the in-game action. Plus, in most RPGs, we instinctively know never to wander into a discoloured cloud – it’s bound to be poison gas.
Hmm, let’s see how this idea pans out with strategy games. You take over an area, use the nearest resources to build your structures, keep your community fed, gather the available wealth sources, but of course, you have to make sure you’re not using up everything around you. That way, you can still make more improvements and sustain your community/empire/city.
But then again, you defend your territory from aggressors and when you’re powerful enough, you can bomb the hell out of them or knock down their structures and replace them with your own. So essentially, you’re utilizing plenty of resources to build your weapons, your enemy made use of theirs to build their structures, which you’ll destroy and take over, which will then make use of even more resources.
While I do love strategy games, the idea really doesn’t sound very green and energy saving to me.
