Image of Elizabeth Hargrave’s (2019) boardgame, Wingspan.

Ecogames: Games and Play in Sustainability Awareness, Communication and Action

29th Aug - 2nd Sep 2022

Utrecht University, The Netherlands

The Manchester Metropolitan Game Centre’s Chloé Germaine and Paul Wake will be delivering a session on the environmental affordances of board games at this year’s Ecogames Summer School in Utrecht. Their workshops explore the method of ‘hacking’ popular games and (re)making them into something new.

About the Summer School

With the repercussions of the climate crisis becoming more tangible every year, popular media and games - both digital and analogue - are increasingly drawing attention as possible solutions for climate education, communication and action. The summer school builds on and contributes to a growing body of scholarship that explores this phenomenon, situating it within the broader field of environmental humanities and green media studies. We investigate how ecogames complement existing ecomedia (e.g. film, television, photography, performance or music) and approach the study and societal application of ecogames from a variety of research traditions, including the humanities, social sciences, sustainability studies, economics and creative practice research.

The summer school brings together leading researchers in the field of ecogames from the universities of Warsaw (Poland), Manchester Met (UK), Cologne and Bochum (Germany), Aalborg/Copenhagen (Denmark), Oslo (Norway), Maribor (Slovenia), Olomouc (Czech Republic) and Utrecht (Netherlands). Each day is dedicated to a different theme/methodology:

• Day 1: Ecocritical game analysis

• Day 2: Scenario-planning games

• Day 3: Ecogame production and reception

• Day 4: Meta-gaming (eco)practices

• Day 5: Ecogame aesthetics

The course is aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students (from ambitious BA and MA/MSc students to PhD candidates) as well as members of private and public sector institutions (companies, NGOs, activist groups etc.) that may already utilize games or gamified systems for environmental communication, education and action.

Applications deadline: August 9th, 2022.

Course Fee: €300 | Covers administrative costs, course materials and catering (light lunches and hot/cold drinks as well as a welcome dinner).

Course Leader: Dr. Stefan Werning | s.werning@uu.nl

For more information (including a tentative program) and to apply online, visit the Utrecht Summer School website.

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