<
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2022/11/video-games-are-giving-up-on-the-idea-that-we-can-save-the-world/>
"The summer of 2022 was one for the record books. Wildfires raged across North
America and Europe, tens of thousands died in brutal heatwaves, water in
reservoirs dried up revealing bodies long forgotten, and flooding displaced
millions. All of this is awful, and it seems likely that it will only get worse
if nothing is done. Considering these clear, numerous, deadly warning signs
that we need to drastically change our way of life or face increasingly
apocalyptic levels of climate disaster, it’s astounding that more serious
action isn’t being taken. Maybe it’s because we’re just waiting for our
glorious post-apocalyptic future to arrive, one which modern video games are so
eager to tantalize us with. There’s no point saving this world, because when
the Death Stranding comes, we’ll get to live in rad Knot Cities. Or we can put
our hope in the GAIA AI. Maybe a Vault will have an opening for someone with
just our set of skills. Our options are endless!
Across the last decade or so, the world of the post-apocalypse has become
increasingly common in video games, and although it’s hardly presented as a
safe or beautiful future, it’s nonetheless established itself as a comfortable
place for gamers to live. We can’t seem to get enough of imagined scenarios
where humanity picks up the pieces after a cataclysmic event.
The Last of Us,
Fallout,
The Walking Dead,
Horizon Zero Dawn,
Dying Light,
Nier:
Automata. These are worlds where humans survive in the wake of some calamitous
happening. That so many game narratives are set in the post-apocalypse seems to
say either we are resigned to, or content with, the idea that this is just
where things are heading and there’s nothing we can do. But…why? This didn’t
always used to be the case. What happened to narratives where characters try to
save the world we’re already living in?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
