
Ecogames
Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis
Amsterdam University Press
Published on 19. January 2024
Book
Hardback
612 pages
978-94-6372-119-6 (ISBN)
Description
With the climate crisis and its repercussions becoming more and more tangible, games are increasingly participating in the production, circulation, and interrogation of environmental assumptions, using both explicit and implicit ways of framing the crisis. Whether they are providing new spaces to imagine and practice alternative forms of living, or reproducing ecomodernist fantasies, games as well as player cultures are increasingly tuned in to the most pressing environmental concerns. This book brings together chapters by a diverse group of established and emerging authors to develop a growing body of scholarship that explores the shape, impact, and cultural context of ecogames. The book comprises four thematic sections, Today's Challenges: Games for Change, Future Worlds: New Imaginaries, The Nonhuman Turn, and Critical Metagaming Practices. Each section explores different aspects of ecocritical engagement in and through games. As a result, the book's comprehensive scope covers a variety of angles, methodologies, and case studies, significantly expanding the field of green media studies.
Reviews / Votes
"...Given that players may not play with a "conscientized" mindset without sufficient prior knowledge, external input, or some form of provocation, the significance of volumes like Ecogames can hardly be overstated."- Lykke Guanio-Uluru, Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture, Volume 15, issue 1, 2024
"Through its impressively vast range of theories and methodologies, this collection promises to make a significant contribution to the ecocritical study of games."
- Marco Caracciolo, author of Contemporary Fiction and Climate Uncertainty: Narrating Unstable Futures
"Over a decade since the 'material turn' in game studies consolidated and reaffirmed the criticality of attention on the stuff games are made from, the essays in Ecogames repeat the process for question of games' entanglement with the accelerating climate crisis. The collection is an essential intervention, demonstrating that games' sustainability-along myriad dimensions: climatic, cultural, ecological-can no longer be regarded a niche concern in game studies, and must be engaged with by all serious scholars today. Ecogames represents the delivery of a long overdue resource for newcomers to the field, enabling students and faculty alike to get across current debates and research trajectories, and will be cited for years to come as the climate continues to deteriorate and games are forced to reckon with their role in it."
- Benjamin Abraham, author of Digital Games After Climate Change, and founder of AfterClimate
"Ecogames provides a pluralistic view of play set against the climate crisis. This is an invaluable volume for thinking, doing and playing in the Anthropocene."
- Darshana Jayemanne, Senior Lecturer in Art, Media, and Games at Abertay University, UK
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Academic
Illustrations
96 s/w Abbildungen
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
Weight
1077 gr
ISBN-13
978-94-6372-119-6 (9789463721196)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Laura op de Beke | Joost Raessens | Stefan Werning
Ecogames
Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis
Book
06/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€57.50
Article not available at the moment

Laura op de Beke | Joost Raessens | Stefan Werning
Ecogames
Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis
E-Book
10/2025
Routledge
€0.00
Available for download

Laura op de Beke | Joost Raessens | Stefan Werning
Ecogames
Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis
E-Book
10/2025
Routledge
€0.00
Available for download
Persons
Laura op de Beke is Assistant Professor of Interactive Media, Screens, and Interfaces at the Faculty of Humanities of Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Joost Raessens is Full Professor and Chair of Media Theory at the Faculty of Humanities of Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Stefan Werning is Associate Professor of New Media and Game Studies at the Faculty of Humanities of Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Gerald Farca is Professor for Game Design at the Faculty of Business, Design, and Technology at Macromedia University of Applied Sciences, Munich, Germany.
Content
Ecogames: An Introduction - Laura op de Beke, Joost Raessens, and Stefan Werning, Part I. Today's Challenges: Games for Change, Part II. Future Worlds: New Imaginaries, Part III. The Nonhuman Turn, Part IV. Critical Metagaming Practices, Index of Games, Index of Names, Index of Subjects