Game Review: My Left Footprint = 4.5 Earths

There are more than 6 billion humans living on Earth and if we all consumed, traveled and lived as I do, we’d need about four and a half Earths to sustain us, that’s according to an on-line game produced by American Public Media. 

If I continue to need so much energy and supporting infrastructure, a large part of my horizon might look something like this:

4.5 Earths; that was my score in a “serious” on-line game called “Consumer Consequences.”Joellen Easton produced the game for American Public Media (APM).  She said “serious” games like this one help APM “learn how people are dealing with things related to consumption.” 

Easton believes that storytelling is important in multimedia games like this one.  Interactive landscapes and choosing an avatar involve players with storytelling aspects of the game.  That and the “customization of your world” help her audience more easily identify with some of the ideas in the game.

Data collected from the game’s audience will help guide APM’s coverage for a November series called “Consumed,” but it will also help make decisions on reporting in the future.

The Kendeda Sustainability Fund of the Tides Foundation provides funding for APM’s sustainability coverage and the game.

The game was developed in partnership with Redefining Progress, a self-described “sustainability think tank,” which made an earlier version called the “Ecological Footprint Quiz.”

APM updated some of the numbers and added sections to entice players to its game.  To play the game, visit: Consumer Consequences.

Both the quiz and graphical game are designed to help consumers understand how their own ecological legacy can be changed.

A player’s score is determined by such things as use of public transportation, size of home, shopping habits and food consumption.  These factors can determine the impact your body has on the rest of the world.

The game has good graphics, only average audio, but is actually fairly dense and layered with many levels of interactivity.

Let’s start with the graphics.  First, you must create an avatar which has a specific appearance and serves as a player’s identity badge.

If you’ve ever wanted to look like a combination of Teddy Roosevelt and Whoopi Goldberg, now is your chance.  You can choose lots of different funky hairstyles, hats, clothing and eye wear for your avatar.  Choose wisely, your face is that way for the whole game.  Other answers you can go back and change, but your hair might always be a little bit Liberace, Barbra Streisand or Mr. T.

The other graphics appear as the game progresses.  For example, if you approve of lobbying efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, you’ll see some wind farms or nuclear power plants pop up on the horizon.  Trains and bus stops will creep into your neighborhood if you use public transportation. 

Game tip: Choosing the size and setting of your home is an important consideration for energy efficiency.

The background murals that slide in as you play are the ones to watch.  Try viewing on a big screen (Real life tip: LCD screens use less power.) because there are some nice little touches that will be transforming the world you inhabit. 

Shopping malls, recycling bins, wind farms, nuclear power (Oops, did I pick that nuke-ya-lar reactor? Delete! Delete!!!), and construction sites will pass before your eyes like a view out the window of your SUV.  Hmmm, better make that a view out of a train or bus window, right?

The audio-scape has its merits.  The sounds are interactive and have changing elements.  Your car might rev the engine when you answer your transportation questions; cash registers ring up your shopping preferences — Ka-ching! 

As for the navigation and actual play of the game, there are myriad directions from which to choose.  Your choices predict a different neighborhood or landscape: one with a “Super Huge Mart” store, parking lot and bulldozed construction sites; another area might have refineries and a superhighway along a river, and eventually you may see solar panels and wind farms fill your screen.

Each answer you make elicits a factoid about that area.  Our state, Iowa, ranks very well in wind-energy production.  Currently we are doing better at producing energy from wind power than other states that have a higher potential for wind energy.  Another state, Hawaii, pays very high prices for energy because it is all imported.

At the very end, the game poses some questions on U.S. energy policy that will change your score and your landscape again, so stay with it.

My favorite part was comparing how I did with other people, including specific radio personalities.  I did about the same as Krista Tippett of “Speaking of Faith.”

You can compare your score with the average responses from people of different political parties, ages, income and education levels, gender and state of residence.

The game really got me thinking.  One thing, how much energy did my computer just use to play a “serious” game?  How many people will change their eating habits to reduce their footprint?  And just how fun was a so-called “serious” environmental game? 

What’s the best score? 

4.5 Earths, my score, seems to indicate that I am using an extra three and a half Earths.  I’m going to try to reduce my score a little at a time, until I get to the best score, the one that we should all strive for: one Earth.

After all, it’s the only one we’ve got and 1.0 Earths should be enough for each of us.