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ElectroCity challenges players to create green cities while balancing energy, money, population growth and environmental limits. This turn-based game offers different routes to success by using dirty fuels (coal, gas), unpopular fuels like nuclear power and green but inefficient power sources like wind and solar. The game is designed for students and includes wide range of teacher resources. And yes, it is addictive!
Game Play: Intuitive mouse-based control allow easy game play. There are many tips about strategy and environmental / energy / economic aspects of the different city building options. Players essentially determine land use to maximize power production, tourist and population attraction, and earnings.
Can you create a sustainable city?
Game Comments: The game is a great introduction to a variety of energy issues and debates.The game like much of industrial policy comes down to trade-offs. There are benefits and costs of different choices:
- Electricity generation - consider cost efficiency vs environmental impact vs availability of land
- Tourism - here tourism is the main source of income later in the game.This is a slightly unbalanced aspect because there is not a lot of discussion about the environmental costs of travelling to New Zealand, nor is there an upper limit for the income that can be derived from tourism
- Policies and Programs - players can improve energy efficiency and production at a local level but face monetary costs and in some cases happiness costs (perhaps analogous to political costs) from choices to ban television
- Budgeting and Local Body Rates - setting tax rates affects happiness, population growth and fiscal balance. Deficits are permitted but debt results in losing the game. This is an interesting limit given the ballooning deficits carried by governments around the world.
- Stock market - players can buy and sell gas and coal on a fluctuating market
- Coal and gas prospecting and extraction - these resources can be used in coal and gas plants or sold on the stock market.
- Visit a small emissionless city, "Smallish ", or big emitters/importers, "Importer", "Parks" which rely on imported power.
Game Background
ElectroCity is sponsored by Genesis Energy: "a leading generator and retailer of energy in New Zealand. It
generates electricity from a range of sources including gas, coal, wind
and water." More information about the company can be found at genesisenergy.co.nz. Genesis Energy created:
Schoolgen, a programme which provides
selected schools in New Zealand with the ability to generate a portion
of their electricity from a renewable energy source. At the same time,
Schoolgen aims to educate and raise awareness amongst students,
teachers and parents about renewable energy, electricity generation and
energy efficiency. For more information about Schoolgen visit www.schoolgen.co.nz
Green Issues
The game claims to be non-political, presenting costs and benefits of different choices. Environmental impacts are oversimplified and lumped together as "pollution". This
ignores the different environmental effects of power production: air,
water, land pollution; green house gas effects on climate change; and
the limited supply of fossil fuels. A score maximizing end game requires players grow large cities that demand nuclear power and rely on tourism dollars to purchase imported power. This success through growth bias naturally flows from a power company's interests (make power, make money). However, I would credit Genesis Energy for its presentation of the different options and paths to success. With these provisos, the game is a great introduction to power generation issues and could be a fantastic launching point for debate.
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