In September 2024, the Network for Environmental Humanities (NEH) and the Utrecht Game Lab are launching a new series of events playtesting and discussing ‘ecogames’: or games that engage with the environment and with the climate crisis.
Questions?
Contact neh@uu.nl!
For accessibility reasons, this semester, we’ll limit ourselves to analog games: board games, card games, and role-playing games of all kinds. Join us for this series in order to play along, and to discuss the ways in which games address human-nature relationships and explore the complex material and socio-cultural dimensions of the climate crisis as well as sustainable futures.
UPDATE: Starting on October 7th, all subsequent sessions will take place at Drift 23, room 0.12/0.13 instead of at the Muntstraat 2a. Generally, playtesting session take place on the first (or, in a few cases, second) Monday of the month from 17-19. We will play together or in groups depending on attendance; limited food and drinks will be provided.
If you’d like to join, please indicate which sessions you are interested at https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/ecogames or using the QR code; this is not mandatory but helps us plan the sessions. You can always drop in spontaneously.
9 September (17-19) – Welcome to Ecogames
In this introductory session, you will gain a sense of the range of game types that are inspired by environmental concerns as we go over some of the titles played in block 1 and 2. Moreover, you’ll meet the ecogaming community at UU. The games in this session will be quick to learn and play, chosen to facilitate interaction and mingling: these include Nature Fluxx, Sunshine City, Agropolis and Happy Salmon.
7 October (17-19) – Simulating Ecologies
For this session we’re exploring ecological systems through a host of environment-themed simulation games, such as Cascadia, Ecogon, Earth, Wingspan, and Undergrove. How do these games manage to evoke the complexity and emergent behavior of real ecosystems, and where do they fall short?
11 November (17-19): Solarpunk Role Playing Games
In this session, we explore the world of indie tabletop role-playing games (or ttrpgs). This small but vibrant scene is experimenting with form and content in ways that will surprise and inspire even the most veteran players of games like DnD. The session promises collaborative storytelling, punk politics, and hopeful futures. Games on offer include Eco Mofos, Solarpunk Futures, The Transition Year, Parable of the Future, and Mouth Brood.
9 December (17-19): Eco-MTG
In this session we will one of the techniques developed by the Utrecht Game Lab, franchise hacking, and apply it to the immensely popular trading card game franchise Magic the Gathering. We are developing ‘decks’ that explore environmental processes and politics using the game’s unique procedural language. During the session, we test the decks against each other, and perhaps draft a couple of cards ourselves. No familiarity with the game is required!
13 January 2025 (17-19): Gaming the Future
McBride, B. B., Brewer, C. A., Berkowitz, A. R., & Borrie, W. T. (2013). Environmental literacy, ecological literacy, ecoliteracy: What do we mean and how did we get here? Ecosphere, 4(5), 1–20.
This session will focus on board games that tackle themes related to the climate crisis, extinction, and living sustainably. Rather than simulate ecosystems, these games try and model wicked problems that involve humans. This includes aspects of “ecological literacy” (McBride et al. 2013), i.e. knowledge of interrelated systems, governance on different levels of scale and the social implication of climate emergencies. For example, we will take a look at games like Daybreak, Cities: Skylines, and Terraforming Mars.
The program for blocks 3 and 4 will be published here at a later date.
