Episode 10 – Could computer games help us save the planet? – Dr Umran Ali, University of Salford

As of 2019, 1 in 3 people now identifies themselves as a ‘gamer’.

The gaming industry is now 1.5 x bigger than the movie industry and 5 times bigger than the music industry. So it is probably worth paying at least some attention to.

This podcast is about leaving no stone unturned in the quest for solutions to the environmental issues we face and with the gaming industry having such a big reach and finance behind it; is there a way we can utilise it to educate and inform about the natural world??

With a move to increasingly realistic simulations, open-worlds and virtual reality some games are even hiring ecologists and geologists to create more accurate representations of the environment. The lines between the virtual world and the real world are starting to blur…

In this episode, I speak to Dr Umran Ali a computer games professor and self-confessed ‘digital native’ from the University of Salford in the UK about the opportunities and also the possible risks associated with a world captivated by games.

This episode really excited me, confused me and even scared me slightly, but is exactly the kind of new perspective I want to bring you going forward, and even if you completely disagree I hope it at least makes you think as much as it made me think.

 

You can find Umran on Twiter @Dr_UmranAli and his website is https://emergentlandscapes.wordpress.com/