Gamifying Environmental Education Through Interactive Simulation and Game Design

Abstract

Serious games are emerging as effective tools for environmental education, allowing players to explore complex systems interactively. Topics such as urban planning and sustainability involve tradeoffs in areas such as economic and social policy, and traditional instruction often struggles to convey how interconnected ecological and urban systems are. Conversely, game-based simulations offer an intuitive solution for demonstrating these real-world challenges in a way that makes educational content more engaging and accessible. This project introduces Carbon City, a Unity-based game that challenges the player to build a sustainable metropolis. Unlike traditional city-building games, Carbon City introduces decision-making that forces the player to be climate-conscious while taking economic and social factors into account. Players must reach a population of 1 million by 2050 while maintaining public support and keeping carbon emissions low. The game includes a grid-based building system, power distribution, adjacency bonuses to reward walkable cities, green technologies to research, and a random event system that presents policy dilemmas with consequences. By simulating interconnected urban systems, Carbon City aims to promote systems thinking and understanding of sustainability tradeoffs. Preliminary data suggests Carbon City players experienced a 7.387% increase in their understanding of the carbon consequences for major industry changes after playing. In the post-playthrough survey, 88.89% of players also reported that Carbon City made them more aware of sustainability concepts and environmental issues. While formal data collection is still underway, early responses show potential for the game to be effective in environmental education.