The making of Antarctic futures: Participatory game design at the interface between science and policy

Abstract

Recent literature on Antarctic futures includes sobering scenarios for the Southern Polar region in the era of Anthropogenic climate change. Contrasting current trajectories with what might be accomplished through appropriate policies and stewardship, such studies acknowledge that change involves more than exhortation through scholarly venues of communication. In this paper, we address the possibility of translating scenario-based Antarctic futures into the playable experience of a simulation and strategy game – itself called Antarctic Futures. Held in three of the Antarctic gateway cities—Hobart (Australia), Christchurch (New Zealand), and Punta Arenas (Chile)—the participatory design process invited young people in each of these cities to contribute ideas, narratives, representations, and critique. We detail these contributions alongside an account of the game’s genesis and development. Employing the concept of ‘playful futures’, we consider the opportunities opened by the process of speculation and co-design itself to address science-policy interfaces for research through digital games. This article suggests that serious games, as experimental sites of public science, can contribute to a collective imagining of alternative climate futures.