Bales of Amber: Exploring Humanity and Ecological Disasters in a Video Game

• In Event: Games, Virtual Technologies, and STS - II

Abstract

Despondent after her daughter's death, Julia joins the Animal Factorization Initiative in an effort to add some structure to her life. She then finds much more than she bargained for with chores, puzzles, and new friends.

Then she dies.

Winner of the Troy Tech Valley Game Space's ProtoStar Pitching award and Made in conjunction with the Tactical Humanities Lab at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Bales of Amber takes an issue not seen closely by many people and hyperbolizes it. This project examines the issue of mass extinction and, by extension, government interference, both good and bad. In this way, the project interrupts the entrenched idea that there is nothing the everyday person can do to affect the growing problem of extinction, and extends a hand to make helping the ecosystem more accessible.

This project is a part of STSE education, and especially pushes to engage students in learning about this subject. In addition, this project develops student’s abilities to make critical decisions about what they do everyday, and analyze how it affects the environment and ecosystem around them. By enveloping real-world problems in a hyperbolized, intriguing, and relatable story, students can attain a genuine interest in the environment and their roll in it.

Author

• Jennifer Anne Bourke, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute