En ekokritisk analys av hur A Short Hike tränar spelaren i hållbara värderingar

Sammanfattning: The world is facing an ecological crisis, and it is essential that we transition to a sustainable culture and sustainable behavior. At the same time, the gaming industry produces games that largely contradict these principles. We see this as problematic and therefore advocate for a paradigm shift towards sustainable values in television and video games. The study is inspired by the Common Cause Foundation’s perspective on Schwartz’s theory of basic human values as a framework for universal values and how they are correlated with sustainable and unsustainable behavior. We also draw on literature that describes and problematizes the current widespread paradigm in games as unsustainable, while presenting alternatives, known as “ecocriticism”. With the aim of exploring how games can incorporate sustainable values as a form of ecocriticism, we examine the game A Short Hike as an example – a game that, at first glance, appears sustainable. We do this with the research question: “Which elements in the game A Short Hike train the player in sustainable and unsustainable values, and in what ways?” To investigate this, qualitative interviews were conducted with a number of individuals after they played the game for approximately 40 minutes. The interviews were designed to identify the elements in the game that motivated them from a values perspective. The results of the study indicate that A Short Hike incorporates certain sustainable values but also includes some unsustainable ones. Generally, we observed that many common game elements specifically motivate players through unsustainable values. It also became clear that different players have different play styles, which affect their experience and the extent to which they embrace sustainable or unsustainable values as motivation. Finally, we discuss the results from a broader perspective, including questioning whether games, by definition, are unsustainable. We also provide suggestions for patterns on how games can be designed with sustainable values as a foundation.