杏吧原创

The object of the game Fate of the World is to stop global warming, but don鈥檛 get your hopes up: you might just give koalas chlamydia instead

THE planet is doomed. At least, that鈥檚 what I鈥檝e come to believe since playing a video game called . The object of the game is to prevent global warming and 鈥渞each the year 2120 with hope still intact鈥�. I failed miserably at every turn.

The game, developed by , is one of a growing list of games aimed at players with a social conscience. The company develops games that are 鈥渇ocused on real-world and non-violent themes鈥� and are 鈥渞ewarding: you make discoveries while you play鈥�.

I certainly did make discoveries. For instance, I discovered that, no matter what policy choices we make, the world is going to hell in a hand-basket.

It would be bad enough to fail at a game developed by a misanthropic teenager with a flair for C++. But Fate of the World鈥榮 algorithms are underpinned by a climate prediction model developed by Myles Allen, who heads the University of Oxford鈥檚 climate dynamics group, and that made my lack of success all the more dismaying.

I played the beta version, which has just one mission: The Oil Crisis. My goal in this game is to stop global mean temperature rising more than 3 掳C. As head of the fictional Global Environment Organisation, my first duty is to recruit agents in different regions of the world. With my agents in place, I get to choose policy cards to play for each region: investing in renewable energy, introducing cap and trade, expanding nuclear power generation and so on. I then play my hand, advancing time by five years to determine the impact of my policy decisions.

I thought I鈥檇 selected a sensible hand, but by 2030 oil production had passed its peak and a global recession loomed. By 2065, things had got substantially worse. War raged in North America, many regions of the world faced mass starvation and koalas had been wiped out by chlamydia 鈥� an outcome I confess I really did not see coming when devising my energy policies.

Fate of the World is a surprisingly addictive game. I played for several hours, determined to get my policy mix right. Each time, catastrophe struck: war, famine, rising temperatures, environmental destruction. I eventually gave up and picked up a Cormac McCarthy novel for some light relief.

The Red Redemption publicist assures me that future versions of the game will not be quite as tough going and will include more missions for players to choose from, including Save the Amazon, Africa Reborn and Oil Crash America.

What鈥檚 appealing about this game is that it leavens worthiness with a dark sense of humour. I look forward to upcoming missions such as Dr Apocalypse, where the player must try to fry the Earth as quickly as possible; and Star Ark, where the goal is to save yourself while 鈥渁bandoning everyone else to whatever catastrophe awaits them鈥�.