Have you ever stopped to ponder what sustainability really is? I feel like it's one of those words I have known for a long time but have probably never used in a sentence and didn't really understand the full meaning of until I sat down and stared it in the face for a while.
For class this week, we were given the really unique assignment of coming up with a concept for an interactive video game that aims to increase awareness of sustainable behavior. Our target group for the game is college students, and in designing these games our goal should be to spur lasting behavior changes for those that would play the game if it were to actually be produced. This task has been incredibly intimidating for me because 1. I am incredibly uncultured in the realm of video games and have no idea what other people see as a "fun" video game, what with the only game I play being Super Mario Bros from like 10 years ago. 2. I don't think like a college student- I have the brain of a 40-year old mom and don't have a clue if what I design will effectively reach the majority of college students. And 3. Regardless of how creative I am or how cool my idea ends up being, the thought of executing the actual production and distribution of a video game makes my brain backfire. As a photographer and digital illustrator, the thought of creating something that is not a still image, is controllable and interactive, and has about a billion moving parts in order to function is absolutely terrifying. I start to think about logistics more than the game itself and get caught up in that. It was a conscious effort to disregard that stresser and try to think of a game as if I were solely the writer.
Before even thinking about designing a game, I knew I needed to find my definition of sustainability. I am ALL about definitions, and I geek out sometimes over comparing different definitions of the same word because I think it can expose much about the inner-workings of what that word really entails. I Googled "sustainability" and perused the definitions listed. The most appropriate one to start on for the purposes of this assignment is "avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance," which I then let my brain digest a bit and bounced off of to write my own definition. My new definition ended up: "mindfulness of behaviors which promote destruction or depletion of an environment and actions that aim to maintain stability and longevity within said environment." It's a bit wordy, but I'm always wordy, so I'm sticking with it. I came to the conclusion that because of the way I visualize the concept of "sustainability," my definition can apply to a lot of different types of environments. I see an "environment" taking form as an ecosystem, a country, a workplace, a family unit, or even one individual person's body. The definition I wrote will then transform a bit each time you bring a new "environment" into consideration. The varying levels of "environments" bring into light different kinds of sustainability as well when you start to consider people in that category. This allows exploration of the idea of not only literal environmental sustainability and physical sustainability, but emotional sustainability and mental sustainability as well- and the relationship between all four. And while environmental sustainability may entail resources such as water or natural gas, the resources in consideration for these other types of sustainability could include things like energy, strength, will, alertness, and sleep.
In all of this pre-brainstorm-brainstorming, I came to realize that I was most fascinated with sustainability in the sense of sustaining oneself. Everyone sustains their own well-being differently, depending on personality type, health conditions, upbringing, etc. and I think it's interesting to analyze the idea that in the act of living, we are all practicing some sort of sustainable behavior- whether these behaviors are bold and obvious or subtle and intimate. We sleep, we eat, we take showers, we avoid situations in which we are at risk of danger... Or do we?
I was thinking today about the connection between sustainability and maintenance, which led to my game idea. I think in connection with my definition of sustainability, maintenance is all about preventing damage and cultivating well-being, so my idea is a sort of one-player roleplay game where the player steps into the shoes of a landlord at an apartment complex who has to keep up with maintenance requests for all of their tenants. Each tenant will represent a facet of physical, mental, or emotional health that is requesting attention of some sort by means of a sustainable behavior. For example, Energy might submit a maintenance request that asks for more sleep, and in order to satisfy that "request," the player must complete a mini game or puzzle. The different tenants will continually be submitting maintenance requests, and the faster the player (landlord) completes them, the better their score is. If the player cannot or does not finish one of the tasks for a maintenance request within a certain amount of time, they will lose points. If the player goes under a certain score at any point in the game, they will have to start all over again. The goal would be to finish all of the maintenance requests before they time out and without letting your score go down. If this game were actually produced, I think a fun name for it would be "Complex Complex," as a representation of how complex the human body is and a quirky connection to the term "apartment complex." The goal of the game over all would be to remind players of simple ways to take care of themselves in day-to-day life to help enhance their health, happiness, and life.
Thanks for reading! I hope you have a fantastic day, night, morning, or whatever it is where you are right now.
{Today's mind/heart/soul-healthy challenge: Identify thoughts and behaviors within yourself that promote sustainability of yourself, your family, your community, or your planet. Cultivate them.}
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