Game Changers II: human-computer interaction and climate action

Games are increasingly being used in the context of climate education and communication, but to date, the majority of climate change games have been designed for learning purposes (Gerber et al., 2021), and focus on conveying basic knowledge (Eisenack & Reckien, 2013). Fewer games focus on community development and encouraging connections between players (Gerber et al., 2021).  The team collaborating on this grant application recently produced Game Changers, a live online narrative game bringing together audiences to explore the impacts of climate change and make decisions in near-future coastal England.  The game was inspired by the real world experiences of climate activists and used the idea of a ‘storytelling empathy machine’ to follow three activists and their robot ECO (Ecological Collaborative Oracle, an artificial intelligence powered by the audience) as they responded to flooding and fossil fuel interests in their city.  The audience influenced the plot and dialogue through polls and online chat functions, mediated by ECO.  The popularity of live interactions with ECO during the game suggest that this character has potential beyond the game to stimulate broader conversations and climate actions, powered up with climate science.  This talk will present the concept for an application to AHRC to explore questions at the intersection of human and computer interaction, climate science and social movement theory with online publics.