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Climate change apocalypse: Will videogames disappear? (amazing documentary)
- Thread starter Natasha Kerensky
- Start date
The most important thing to do is to not give in to apathy - start making your own positive changes and lead the conversation. It's actually really rewarding too. I never realised just how much the convenience culture of the 21st Century had sucked so much of the adventure out of life.
I recently begun buying only second-hand books and it's actually created a sense of excitement and discovery that I hadn't felt since I was a kid. I actively hunt down used book stores and charity shops now and stumbling across something I'd been looking for is really, really rewarding. I've been looking for Philip K. Dick's 'Man in the High Castle' for a few months now and it's not easy to come by, but when i get it, it'll be way better than some super rare exotic weapon I'd been RNG grinding for.
Convenience is awesome and all, but when everything is at your finger-tips and can be downloaded in seconds, normally for chump change, it loses its magic. It's like playing life with all the cheats on. My wife does it with fashion too and gets exactly the same buzz from a rare find.
Goes for food too - I'll only buy seasonal now and there's something special about having different seasonal things to eat each month, asparagus in spring, strawberries in summer, raspberries and blackberries in autumn, new potatoes, instead of eating imported Peruvian avocados all year round.
I recently begun buying only second-hand books and it's actually created a sense of excitement and discovery that I hadn't felt since I was a kid. I actively hunt down used book stores and charity shops now and stumbling across something I'd been looking for is really, really rewarding. I've been looking for Philip K. Dick's 'Man in the High Castle' for a few months now and it's not easy to come by, but when i get it, it'll be way better than some super rare exotic weapon I'd been RNG grinding for.
Convenience is awesome and all, but when everything is at your finger-tips and can be downloaded in seconds, normally for chump change, it loses its magic. It's like playing life with all the cheats on. My wife does it with fashion too and gets exactly the same buzz from a rare find.
Goes for food too - I'll only buy seasonal now and there's something special about having different seasonal things to eat each month, asparagus in spring, strawberries in summer, raspberries and blackberries in autumn, new potatoes, instead of eating imported Peruvian avocados all year round.
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That's true of humanity itself. Literally everything will be affected by climate change.
OP
OP
plenty of humanity are doing something about it. it's just those in power and those who are destroying the planet who won't budge and would rather live in a fantasy world that ends up genociding millions/billions of people.
The easiest thing we can all do is just go digital only for our games. Whatever the reason for going physical (game ownership, re-seling your games, conservation or paying a couple of dollars less): all of those reasons to not go digital should all be dozens of times less important than destroying our planet by the resource gathering, production and distribution of a physical product. Even worse is paying extra for the (mostly) crap that is part of limited editions.
Do your part to battle climate change > > > > > > playing a video game > > > > > > reasons to own physical copy of game
Do your part to battle climate change > > > > > > playing a video game > > > > > > reasons to own physical copy of game
Agreed. Doing positive things for the environment can be challenging, but it actually feel like an achievement most of the time when you succeed.
Not close to enough. And the hardware used in games is peanuts compared to smartphones which hundreds of millions more people use. I don't hear the same complaints that the phone industry doesn't discuss this all the time.
I can see some differences though:
- Even if smartphones are sold way more, the parts and overall size (and as such most materials) of most video games consoles or gaming pcs are much larger. So overall resource usage difference should be a lot smaller than just looking at the sales numbers.
- Chance is every game console owner also owns a mobile phone already and you can actually play games on a mobile phone. A console is purely an extra
- A mobile phone is used for other purposes than just leisure
- It's possible and for some people the most attractive option to buy physical games on consoles, resulting in even more waste
- Power usage of most video game consoles and especially high end gaming pc's is much, much higher than a smart phone.
- Smart phones actually start replacing PC / laptop / tablet usage more and more often in my experience, resulting in lower purchases or slower degradation of those big / high power devices.
Also, you may not hear the same complaints, but the phone industry (well, at least Apple) does address the environment in their keynotes now and then. Has the environment ever been a part of any video games company keynote or press conference?
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Yup, my biggest complaint with the phone industry is the absurd amount of model iteration and the constant push to upgrade. The iPhone launched in 2006 and we're already up to the 10th numbered model with multiple iterations in between. Games consoles tend to have a much longer lifespan by contrast and are supported far longer after lifetime.
One day, the sun will go plop and kaboom and then an entire generation or two will be wiped of the face of the earth as the face of the earth gets wiped of the butt of the milky way. Since time is meaningless, does it really matter if the doom comes to our generation, or the next one, or in a few million years?
Our job is to make sure life goes on until the sun basically says "Ok duders it was fun and all but that's enough." With this being our ultimate fate I'm just totally not worried about video games… sorry.
Our job is to make sure life goes on until the sun basically says "Ok duders it was fun and all but that's enough." With this being our ultimate fate I'm just totally not worried about video games… sorry.
Nintendo has made power consumption and size a concern multiple times. They are often mocked for it though.
I do think you're making an assumption about resources required to make one versus the other just based on size.
Plus:
This is major. My 30 year old systems still work and in general systems are designed to last for years. Phones by comparison are more and more designed to be disposable.
In lieu of governments actually informing their citizens, it's up to us to educate ourselves on what we can do to make a positive impact. Certainly with old electronics we can recycle and recover raw materials from instead of leaving them to gather dust in cupboards or worse, landfill.
Or, put another way: "this house will fall down one day anyway. Since time is meainngless, does it really matter if it falls down this year or next or decades from now."
I care about environment very much but unfortunately I have to fly on my private jet all the time. Can't stand sitting in a tube full of demons.
I can't even began to imagine any worse repercussions from climate change than losing video games.
OP
OP
while an admirable proposal, we need structural and systematic solutions, not just some individualistic approach to simply remember to recycle.
Absolutely! Everyone waiting for someone to come up with a structural and systematic solution like it's actually going to happen though 😔
I do applaud Nintendo for that, but on the other hand, they've released the NES Classic / SNES Classic and Amiibos, all of which could have been replaced by digital alternatives. Of course Amiibo do more than their digital advantages, looking good on a shelf, but still.
You're implying mobiles are not built to last, but that is also a bit inherent to the product type, because people use them all the time, hold them, drop it sometimes, take them everywhere in all types of weather, throw them in a bag, etc. Except for maybe the battery (modern consoles all have batteries as well), most phones would easily last thirty years too if they would just sit in a tv cabinet all day without moving (or if they're handled with care).
Well, not really assumptions about resource usage in total, because that's a fact if you include all parts. However, the assumption I AM making is about the amount of rare / valuable materials that are actually bad for the environment (or worse than 'just' metal / plastic). I would be surprised though if consoles didn't still use more of those materials as well.
It seems like many in this thread are missing the point entirely, which is understandable if you just came in to comment without watching the documentary in the OP. The main problem is the materials/carbon footprint necessary to mine, process, and create hardware for gaming and current tech in general (computer chips, LCD screens, etc.) is HEAVILY contributing to climate change and society's eventual collapse as a result.
Essentially, in order for us to responsibly combat climate change, the videogame industry should willingly go away BEFORE the "apocalypse" (the sooner, the better). And before climate change (and unsustainable human growth) does 100% fuck everything up, by necessity, videogames would probably be the first industry to go due to those materials being needed to produce renewables and tech to help prevent the inevitable collapse.
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"You can see by the proportions of this drawing that this figure represents Waifu, the fertility goddess worshiped by ancient Man." ~An archaeologist 5,000 years from now
I'll watch this later, thanks OP. This is something I have been thinking about lately. If we really want to fight climate change our gaming habits will have to be cut back considerably. If we started rationing electricity and it meant no more games then so be it.
Oh wow this made me laugh so damn hard lmao
And I say this as someone who's been really mentally negatively affected by climate change news
I needed the laugh
Thank you
I don't follow this example. My DS for instance has been thrown in bags, kept in pockets, traveled the world, been used 8+ hours a day for work (for QA work) and still works just fine 15 years later. My iPhone 4 and my Note 2 on the other hand became painfully slow after a few years and completely unusable for many basic functions.
Phones have planned obsolescence. This has been an issue people have called out for years. My kids gonna get my fat DS one day and the games will run just like they used to.
You need to give people a reason to care. Tell someone "society will collapse", most people can't handle that so they'll laugh in your face and dismiss you.
Ok, NOW I see a reason to protect the environment
I almost spit my coffee
Does Stadia make any sort of case for this scenario...?
Er, people have been talking about climate change in the zeitgeist since the late 60s
I agree with you here that mobile manufacturers can do much more in this department and Nintendo in general build products to last, which is great.
Consumers seem to keep going for flashy edgeless phones as well though, so I can't blame them for giving consumers what they want when it comes to durability. When a new phone leaks with big bezels, I read nothing but complaints in the comments.
I was thinking the same thing. Maybe it is a better alternative to mass producing consoles and PC components/video cards, but I can't imagine it would be TOO much better since I'm sure the hardware farms required to run games for every user is probably just as impactful.
True story. Scientists are fairly unanimous is saying this is most serious issue we've ever faced as a species, but they're also fairly unanimous in saying that this is not beyond the measure of our control. People need to stop treating these claims like an apocalyptic prophesy and start treating them like the sober and rational talking-to they actually are.
This isn't the village mystic telling you that you fate is shrouded in doom, it's your doctor saying 'carry on like this for another two decades and you'll probably wind up dead'.
It's gonna be way more than videogames, though I suppose the point might resonate with some more strongly since we've lived in an age of relative comfort for long enough to hold entertainment in such high regard.
I fucking love videogames but actual necessities like food is where the real terror starts to hit with climate change way sooner in my mind, and I've been spooked about that for 15+ years. I've already come to believe that if you can't get food to the table, society will degrade quickly and badly enough that videogames will become a distant memory for folks real quick.
I fucking love videogames but actual necessities like food is where the real terror starts to hit with climate change way sooner in my mind, and I've been spooked about that for 15+ years. I've already come to believe that if you can't get food to the table, society will degrade quickly and badly enough that videogames will become a distant memory for folks real quick.
Already watched this video quite some time ago, it's really interesting and it actually made me see things differently since then.
I'm ready for the worst and we'll be lucky if that only affects video games, at least in the beginning.
I'm ready for the worst and we'll be lucky if that only affects video games, at least in the beginning.
We have 10 years from now to reduce global emissions by 45% until it's too late....
We could start by shutting down the meat industry, greatly invest in renewable energy, and start holding companies accountable for poor waste disposal practices... But none of that will happen unfortunately.
We could start by shutting down the meat industry, greatly invest in renewable energy, and start holding companies accountable for poor waste disposal practices... But none of that will happen unfortunately.
As far as rare earths scarcity is concerned, there's a decent chance we'll have switched to different materials. Researchers have been studying lots of different nano materials to replace them. They've had promising results with materials made from common metals.
That's not looking at the environmental impact though. But, a lot of green technology actually requires rare earths. So a solution does need to be found. Unless we ditch electronics and transportation all together.
That's not looking at the environmental impact though. But, a lot of green technology actually requires rare earths. So a solution does need to be found. Unless we ditch electronics and transportation all together.
And yet this solution brings its own environmental issues in terms of rejecting heat into the ocean and how it affects local aquatic flora and fauna.
Revolution won't happen until the effects are so bad that we have no choice but to revolt. From the news articles that have come out this year, that might happen sooner than was anticipated.
No they didn't.
They put outdated, slow and thus cheap hardware into their consoles.
Their consoles draining so much less power compared to the competition was a direct consequence of this.
Wii was a die-shrunk GC with 1.5 x it clocks and more memory, ofc it doesn't consume much power.
Neither Wii nor WiiU and not even Switch (though far better than the other 2) were close to what was possible in regards to performance/watt.
Local flora and fauna are much more at risk by the increasing acidification of the water. If underwater data centers reduce carbon output it would be a net good on the ocean
This is the wrong way to look at it. We need to frame climate change like this more often. "Societal collapse" is too big and intangible for people to concern themselves with in the everyday. Breaking it down into smaller parts (video games will die out, beer will be more expensive, etc) makes it easier to wrap your head around.