An Analysis of the Efficacy of Climate Challenge

The temperature in our atmosphere is steadily rising; therefore, we need a method of communicating climate risk that educates and motivates people faster than the rising sea level. Our presentation analyzes the communicative effectiveness of Climate Challenge, a game created for this purpose. We will also analyze and utilize prior research of climate change games and serious games. We gathered participants for our research using convenience and snowball sampling. We conducted a pre-test survey and post-test interview, along with a screencast-recorded playthrough of Climate Challenge. After the research session we used grounded theory and inductive thematic analysis to categorize and find trends in the data. Our analysis suggests that Climate Challenge relies on text to relay its message on climate change, which falls under the category of narratological teaching. Such an approach “deals with the structures and function of narrative storylines/backgrounds” (Ouariachi, T., Olvera-Lobo, M. D., & Gutiérrez-Pérez, J., 2017). This could make an effective climate change game, but too much text can lead the player to become bored with the game before it impacts the player. This will lead into a discussion of narratological and ludological methods of teaching through games. We will discuss the results of our study and suggest ways that researchers can continue exploring the possibilities of risk communication games