Social Impact Game Case Study

Pollution is a big problem in the world today. Landfills are piling up and the earth is running out of place to put trash. The human race is using natural resources faster than they can replenish. Earth cannot sustain life at this rate. The world needs to find new ways to retrieve energy without using so many natural resources. What is one way we could do this? Recycling.

Recycling can fix some of the world’s biggest problems. When done correctly, it can lead to great things. This is why the creators of Garbage Dreams made their game. The game is based off of the movie, Garbage Dreams. The movie takes place in Carico, a large city in the Middle East. It shows how the Zaballeen, a community of people on the outskirts of Carioco that have devoted their life to recycling, and how these people make a living. Director, producer, and cinematographer, Mai Iskander chose to film this because she hopes that, “after seeing this film, people will think twice before throwing out their garbage”(Iskander, PBS, Garbage Dreams). She wants to make an impact on this world. Garbage can pollute air, land, and water to the point where it will no longer be useable. Pollution might not affect you directly but it does have an effect on others. This is the whole purpose the Garbage Dreams game was made. You should experience how trash can affect the world.

image of pollution in a river

You play the game like you are one of the Zaballeen. The goal of the game is to sort through a pile of trash. This may sound easy but it is not. You have 8 months to travel around to five areas and collect trash. You start out with $150 and have to budget how much you spend a month. These are called “upgrades”. These upgrades consist of ways to recycle such as organics, paper, tin, glass, plastic, and aluminum. One of the challenges with this is that it cost a certain amount of money per month to keep up with this. You can also spend money on workers, recycling education, and recycling awareness. You must also pay for trucks to travel to new areas. You must get to all of the five areas within eight months. It is crazy to realize that, although this is a game, there are people who do this for a living. I played the game and found out that recycling is easier said than done. Although I thought I did pretty well, I only made it to four out of the five areas and only had a city wide recycling percentage of 42%.

part of Garbage Dreams game

Garbage and recycling go hand in hand. People like the Zaballeen devote their lives to cleaning the earth. Although the Zaballeen seem to have things under control, the rate of pollution is increasing day by day. As the human population level rises, so does the garbage level. Just choosing to recycle can make an impact on the environment in so many ways. Recycle and help the earth become a cleaner and safer place.

Bibliography

“PBS.” PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/garbage-dreams/game.html>