What did I just learn? : How commercial video games could underhandedly teach players environmental sustainability

Sammanfattning: Commercial video games have a great potential in battling the ongoing environmental crises. However, literature has so far largely neglected a connection between environmental sustainability and commercial video games. Therefore, this thesis analyses environmental sustainability incorporations in commercial video games by conducting a case study on Horizon Forbidden West (HFW). This case study is executed with help of an originally developed analytical model called Dimensions of Environmentally Sustainable Gameplay. The case study concludes that HFW especially excels in creating a realistic environmentally sustainable game world. Other dimensions of environmentally sustainable gameplay such as environmental objects, agents and events, need more improvement. HFW shows problematic incorporation of video game objects as it is merely based on mastering the environment in the form of resource extraction. The research findings indicate that HFW’s producers have not yet uncovered the medium’s full potential. This thesis encourages further research into environmental sustainability in commercial video games and provides commercial video game producers with the necessary tools to create future games with improved environmental considerations.