From an online summary: “Seeing CO2 is an open world game prototype by design studio Extraordinary Facility that explores how intangible data on carbon emissions might be presented in a more relatable and interactive way. In the online game, players can drive around in a little blue van and explore a landscape populated with increasingly huge black cubes. Each cube is ten times bigger than the last, and represents a physical volume of carbon dioxide, from one tonne to a billion tonnes. Next to each cube is a render of a real-world landmark for scale, for example, the Eiffel Tower next to 100 kilotonnes of CO2, and Mount Everest next to 1 gigatonne of CO2.”
“By driving around the world and viewing the massive black cubes of theoretical CO2, the scale and pace of the virtual experience is designed to help players see and feel ‘how huge these emissions really are,’ [Extraordinary Facility’s Matt Brown explains]. Although he doesn’t see it as a game, per se, ‘more like an article, or a public information piece, that just happens to exist in a game world. I could have done it in print, or as an animation, but given how dominant game worlds are in pop culture now, it felt more culturally relevant and potent to design it that way,’ he says.”