An Oxford climate researcher has found a novel use for his modelling skills: playing games with climate science.
Myles Allen, a University of Oxford scientist who has worked on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is providing data for the Climate Challenge 2010 game. According to a statement, the game will use the same model that underlay Allen’s Nature paper last year, which suggested that once a trillion tonnes of carbon had been added to the atmosphere a 2°C temperature rise would be inevitable.
“Providing science for games is a new field for me, but public engagement with the issues surrounding climate change is vital and videogames are a great way of reaching millions of people,” says Allen (press release).
British Company Red Redemption is producing the Climate Challenge 2010 game, which was announced last year. It follows on from their previous effort, Climate Challenge. Sadly, I demonstrated my usual level of video game aptitude with that particular release and despite hardly emitting any carbon and ensuring a continually growing economy ‘President Nature News’ was voted out of office as “a deeply unpopular leader who cared nothing for the happiness of the population”.
There’s no news yet on whether James Inhofe will appear as an end of level boss in the new game or if collecting enough power-ups will enable you to summon assistance in the form of Al Gore.
Last month Gobion Rowlands of Red Redemption told a local paper that early testing found many players seemed to enjoy pushing for a worst case scenario. “There is a certain macabre fascination and they want to know what is the worst that can happen,” he told the Oxford Times.
“We don’t force them to be good or bad; they could be virtuous or a tyrant. We are not making educational games, we are making fun games.”
Not everyone is convinced, one commenter on the Guardian website says, “I do climate modelling as part of my job and even I think that sounds like a tedious game.”
The game is currently around three quarters finished, says the company.
Image: photo by RebeccaPollard via Flickr under Creative Commons.