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European Video Games Society

7th Workshop
Greening the Video Games industry:
Winning solutions for the
environment
22/08/2022
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WINNING SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Aim of the workshop – Jenny Molyneux, Ecorys

The workshop Greening the Video Games Industry: Winning Solutions for the Environment took place
on 22 August 2022, in the framework of the DEVCOM Conference in Cologne, Germany. It was the seventh
of a series of twelve workshops to be held throughout 2022 by the European Video Games Society to inform
a study on the value and impact of the video games sector in the EU.

The aim of this workshop was to explore some of the sector’s leading initiatives and good practices to
promote sustainability across the industry. The event focused on tangible actions within the value chain of
game development that industry players can take to support the green transition and help combat climate
change. The session, designed as an instructive workshop for DEVCOM participants, was divided into three
blocks: a presentation by the GamesForest initiative, a demonstration from Serious Bros, and an
introduction about gamification capabilities in other industries to foster sustainability by GameLabGraz.

For more details about the project, please visit the European Video Games Society website or see the
previous workshops reports.

GamesForest presentation – Maria Wagner,

GamesForest.Club
Reforestation is key for fighting climate change due to its carbon reduction, cooling effect and capabilities
around increasing biodiversity. In this context, as
co-founder Maria Wagner explained,
GamesForest.Club is a non-profit organisation that
connects video games with this purpose through an
initiative designed to increase the public’s interest
in climate change and encourage action for its
mitigation. Specifically, it provides the video game
industry with a gaming tool that visualises all
restoration activities undertaken by studios in real Virtual forest by GamesForest
life.

GamesForest offers a virtual space where the video games community can examine the effects of their
actions, how much money they have invested, how many trees were planted. Since the start of the project
in November 2021, 41,000 trees have been planted and 40 companies joined the club by carrying out
reforestation or forest protection actions. In total, more than 1.2 million square metres of forest have been
protected.

On the potential risk of greenwashing, the platform, in their virtual forest, shows the exact location of the
companies’ environmental actions and quantifies their specific impact. “Through the platform, companies
can clearly show their impact and how they are being useful for the environment”. Some companies even
use it as a tool to engage and reward employees for their creative ideas to make a positive impact.

Other examples of sustainable actions among the industry include the studios Nordic Game and Good
Games, who reward players for environmentally friendly behaviour, and GamerLegion, an e-sport team that
donated the funds they raised during a streaming event for environmental causes.

Imagine Earth presentation – Jens Isensee, Serious Bros

Jens Isensee, co-founder and creative director of the Serious Bros studio, presented Imagine Earth, a video
game focused on building sustainable colonisations, aiming to make a positive impact in the real world. It
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WINNING SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
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puts the player in a position of a global economic player, whose mission is to build up and sustain a
civilization, produce and trade goods and compete against other corporations. To preserve quality of life for
its inhabitants and avoid a global climate crisis, the player has to find a balance between growth and
sustainability. The play style is fast, from a post-industrial/late capitalist stage to a more sustainable
civilisation where resource management is key to ensure energy and food supplies.

The climate and the environment play a very important role in the video game, thereby aiming to raise
awareness among users. To succeed in Imagine Earth, the player has to solve problems during the world-
building process. Besides, real-life cases are included such as World Congress, where all parties need to
work together to maintain positive living conditions, emphasising the importance of climate diplomacy. Other
problems such as rising sea levels, forest fires, and air and soil pollution are part of the game.

Along with the Imagine Earth game, the Serious

Bros studio is taking a series of concrete
actions to combat climate change such as the
donation of the funds raised from the video
game’s soundtrack sale, donation of the benefits
obtained from the sale of a green planet bundle, Scene of Imagine Earth
linkage of a game achievement with planting
trees in real life via a collaboration with Green
Game Jam, and charity steam sales with various
projects supporting forests.

Game Lab Graz– Johanna Pirker, Graz University of

Technology
Game Lab Graz is a research group from the Graz University of Technology that aims to bring technology
and knowledge from video games to other industries. Led by professor and researcher Johanna Pirker, it
develops video games and simulations for training applications in simulation environments. The group works
on gamifications, game analytics and game user research, as well as virtual environments and setups.

By working with other fields, such as physics, Game Lab Graz simulates environments that cannot be seen
in real life. They employ virtual reality (VR) technology to visualise and simulate energy-related relevant
processes and elements. For example, the research group developed a digital twin room where they can
change certain conditions to analyse different energy properties, such as the change in temperatures or
materials, and see the effects of the atmosphere in the room. VR is an immersive tool to effectively engage
larger companies and attract the attention of the general public.

Virtual reality simulation by Game Lab Graz