The future is already here – it’s just not very evenly distributed.

When William Gibson wrote those lines, he was describing a cyberpunk future, dominated by corporations and online spaces where virtual wars mirrored offline conflicts. This future Gibson envisioned never fully materialized; instead, the cyberworld has become a collection of social media sites run by careless algorithms that promote radicalization. Nonetheless, Gibson’s statement remains accurate if we shift from thinking about technology to considering climate and energy catastrophes. By paying attention to the devastation caused by wildfires, flooding, and ocean acidification—particularly how these events impact often-poor communities in the global south—we can glimpse what the future might look like. In regions already experiencing the consequences of climate and energy instability, the future of the planet has already arrived.

When considering the future of the planet from a climate and energy perspective, a few certainties stand out. The global temperature will likely rise above 1,5 degrees Celsius around 2100. The biosphere will suffer irreversible damage, leading to a mass extinction event. Additionally, the resources needed to address the impacts of extreme climate changes will decrease, possibly causing social and political upheaval. This future is already evident in some parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Over the next few decades, this future will become more evenly spread across the globe.

What is the role of play and games in this future? Game studies has taken a decided environmental turn in the past few years. Scholars have engaged in themes of ecological representation, the simulation of utopian and dystopian futures, and the material realities of game production and their impact on the planet’s resources and climate. Game studies is developing a comprehensive catalogue of how the future is being depicted and prevented from happening through games, play practices, and game development techniques.

The Playing Futures conference aims to promote environmental change by creating a space for the community to gather and share ideas related to development. Playing Futures seeks to be the central hub for researchers exploring the future of play. The conference emphasizes the need for multidisciplinary approaches to engaging with climate and energy futures, as well as the role of games in shaping these futures.

Playing Futures is an initiative of the Center for Digital Play at the IT University of Copenhagen.

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