Games for Better Futures: The Art and Joy of Making and Unmaking Societies

Abstract

This chapter proposes that games engaging with the global ecological crisis would benefit from engaging with the processes of building and dismantling institutions. We first describe how institutions are at the core of human society, culture and organization. We then discuss the link between games and institutions; subsequently, we discuss game media ecosystems and introduce the value of looking at game design and gameplay as utopian processes. Next, we discuss the need to not only focus on building new institutions but also on dismantling existing, destructive institutions. Finally, we discuss structural changes needed in the game sector-e.g., regarding funding and publishing, game developer education, and platforms-to realize its transformative potential using the concept of imagination infrastructuring.