Digital Games After Climate Change

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

   PDF

2. Why Games and Climate Change?

   • Benjamin J. Abraham

   Pages 1-25

3. How Can Games Save the World?

   • Benjamin J. Abraham

   Pages 27-60

4. What Is an Ecological Game?

   • Benjamin J. Abraham

   Pages 61-88

5. How Much Energy Does it Take to Make a Videogame

   • Benjamin J. Abraham

   Pages 89-122

6. The Carbon Footprint of Games Distribution

   • Benjamin J. Abraham

   Pages 123-147

7. The Carbon Footprint of Playing Games

   • Benjamin J. Abraham

   Pages 149-177

8. The Periodic Table of Torture

   • Benjamin J. Abraham

   Pages 179-236

9. Where to from Here?

   • Benjamin J. Abraham

   Pages 237-247

10. Back Matter

    Pages 249-254

    PDF

​This book presents the first sustained analysis of the digital game industry’s carbon footprint and its role in exacerbating global climate change. Identifying the ways videogames can actually help combat the climate crisis, it argues for the urgency of transitioning to a fully carbon neutral games industry, exploring the challenges and opportunities inherent in this undertaking. Beginning with an analysis of debates around the persuasive power of games, the book argues that real impact can only be achieved by focusing on the material conditions of game production – by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from making, selling, and playing games, as well as the hardware used to play them. Abraham makes a compelling argument that a sustainable games industry is possible, and outlines the actions that everyone can take to reduce the harms that digital games cause to people and planet.

• climate change
• digital games
• videogames
• sustainability
• digital media
• carbon neutral gaming

"Everyone seems to be talking about the climate crisis - and even within the game industry, there is a growing awareness of the environmental impact of videogames. But until Digital Games after Climate Change, no one had yet outlined the shape of this impact with such exacting detail. Abraham brings a scholar's precision to his devastating analysis of how games are negatively affecting our planet. This is a book every game designer, publisher, and player needs to read. From calculating the footprint of shipping disks to itemizing every toxic metal inside a game console, Abraham paints a detailed portrait of the many ways in which creating and playing games is harmful to our global environment. You will never play a videogame the same way again. Digital Games after Climate Change is equal parts horrifying and hopeful. Abraham provides an incredibly detailed account of the dangers of games: from the energy needed to manufacture, distribute, and play them to the toxic metals inside game consoles. At the same time, he takes a close look at the ways that games can change minds and attitudes about the climate crisis. The book powerfully ends with sharp provocations and concrete suggestions about what game players and game creators can do to make things better." —Eric Zimmerman, Game designer & Arts Professor, NYU Game Center. 

• University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia

  Benjamin J. Abraham

Benjamin J. Abraham has spent the past decade researching digital media and videogames sustainability. He was previously a lecturer in digital and social media at the University of Technology Sydney, an affiliate of the Climate Justice Research Centre, and has recently moved on from academia.