These video games are changing the conversation on sustainability

digitaltrends.com:

If you’ve ever written off video games as mindless entertainment that rots brains, there’s a good chance you don’t follow them closely enough. Even since the earliest days of the medium, developers have used games as a tool for education. Think back to games like Math Blaster or The Oregon Trail. Even today’s biggest blockbusters, like Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, now deal with serious themes and reflect our world. Like any other artistic medium, games have the power to shine a light on real issues while entertaining us.

If you still need convincing, look no further than New York City’s Games for Change festival. The annual event highlights games and creators that are using the medium to make a social impact. This year’s festival, which took place in late June, honored several games that fit that bill, from Chants of Sennaar to A Highland Song. This year’s winners list was headlined by Stay Alive My Son, which picked up awards for Game of the Year, Best In Impact, and Best Narrative.

While Games for Change’s awards honor a wide range of games, its Best In Environmental Impact category is especially worth paying attention to each year. This year’s show honored three games in that category from small studios, all of which I sat down with at the show proper. Each of the three titles tackles the topic of sustainability and environmentalism in very different ways, showing exactly how creators are rethinking how games can both educate and entertain players.

The Plastic Pipeline

This year, Games for Change awarded Best in Environmental Impact to The Plastic Pipeline. Developed by FableVision, this mobile and browser game is available to play through the Wilson Center for free. Of the three games featured in the festival, it’s the one that skews closest to a traditional educational game built