Global Warming, as Depicted by 30 Years of Strategy Games

[@shiloh6915]

I've only played Civ 5, and I just learned that the Civ games use to have a complicated environmental gameplay, that I missed out on.

[@U1TR4F0RCE]

I played Civilization Revolution on the DS and xbox 360 which also didn't include that.

[@EggBastion]

Civ5 was a fucking piss take

[@olegkosygin2993]

>Civ 5 You've pretty much missed out on Civilization in general.

[@YusufNasihi]

Imagine being hit with the neoliberal sequel in 2010 rather than 1990

[@budakbaongsiah]

Civ4 best Civ

[@pleasetellmeitworks]

someone else likely noted this by now, but in case not: the ozone depletion crisis was a completely different problem from climate change, though they are commonly conflated. The ozone layer naturally blocks harmful UV wavelengths from the earth's surface, and substances like CFC's can destroy that protective layer. The Montreal Protocol was very successful in banning the release of these substances, so this isn't a very pressing concern today. Climate Change driven by global warming is not the same crisis. Global warming is caused by the exacerbation of the greenhouse effect, the natural occurring process by which greenhouse gases (GHGs) trap and radiate energy back to the earth's surface (part of why earth is habitable). The issue arises when we are releasing an excess of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, trapping too much energy. In summary: CFCs and the ozone hole ≠ GHGs and climate change. The issues are (strictly speaking) not the same thing

[@tomhill3248]

@@phobochrome You'll be waiting another couple thousands years at least. Ice ages last a while when they show up, but only ever happen when forests cover most of the planet. The Egyptians prevented the last ice age when they cut down so many forests to build their empire and their pyramids. As well as other monuments.

[@ivan_nagar]

And recently the largest ozone layer hole was healed completely

[@mkvk74]

@@phobochrome That's why you should listen to scientific consensus instead of getting information from single papers. The whole global cooling idea was never part of the scientific consensus. It had some succes in media but it was rejected quickly by the scientific world. It would probably have been long forgotten if it hadn't been so useful in tricking people into believing global warming isn't real. Science is all about floating idea's and then shooting them down; it's only when idea's survive that that are considered scientific knowledge.

[@jonne7725]

you gotta love the way people keep conflating the long term carbon cycle with the short term carbon cycle. Oil barons keep pumping the goo that will kill us all while people are worried about wether or not farm animals farting out methane developed from carbon already in the short cycle will destroy the environment and shit like that.

[@useodyseeorbitchute9450]

From technical perspective it was a different (and cheaper to deal with problem). Just this video is about a cultural phenomena, zeitgeist and depiction in games. For that purpose those two things are merged.

[@FictionFactoryGames]

I think it’s interesting to compare this against the latest expansion pack The Sims has announced, “Eco Lifestyle,” Which puts the solution squarely on the backs of the individuals living in small communities. If you recycle and enough trash, the toxic environment turns into absolute beauty. You can even invent a magic vacuum cleaner that just destroys pollution. This feels like it’s absolving major corporations and governments of all responsibility and putting it squarely on the shoulders of hipsters making candles and upcycling old couches. It feels to me like a dangerous narrative the push.

[@vitaliybakal7356]

Yes, major corporations just buy palm oil from each other as some sort of cosmic scam. Small persons like me and you read all their shampoo compounds, right?

[@carloshiguera9221]

​@@vitaliybakal7356 And that's why we should either subsidize eco friendly products to make them more competitive or tax the more damaging products. Putting the onus on people simply wont cut it, the average joe has tens of other problems in the present to be caring about the environmental effects of the products he buys. If the goverment doesn't regulate products, corporations won't have incentives to be eco friendly and will follow profits. A strong government that cares is needed in any case, corporations alone aren't suited to self regulate in cases where it's less economically viable at short time frame to do the right thing.

[@aturchomicz821]

Yeah the Sims 4 and ESPECIALLY that dlc wont age well at all.....

[@vitaliybakal7356]

​@@carloshiguera9221 the problem is compounds and corruption. It took years to get actual heroin and cocaine out of mass market, now imagine suspected pollutants. You remove triclosan or phosphates after years of studies and they just replace it with same stuff.

[@elgapo8618]

This happens all the time with stuff like schools in the west just using schools as an example the schools I have gone to have always been like "if we all recycle and turn off a tap when you brush your teeth we will all live in an ecological utopia" even though basicly us normal civilians can do basicly nothing against big corpersitioms and goorveements

[@donbionicle]

You know, without this video I'd never have know Civ games had environmental aspects besides Alpha Centauri and Gathering Storm. It's been *that long* since it was a mainstream-acceptable concept.

[@WodkaEclair]

On the other hand, as someone who spent every possible hour on my grandmother's computer as a teen in the early 00s I'm well acquainted with it, but since I haven't played any since civ3, today I learned that the new ones *lack* the pollution and global warming mechanics of civ2

[@blunderingfool]

Ot’s not that it wasn’t mainstream, it just isn’t suitable in most strategy games.

[@beric0bartman]

It's just that videogames are meant to appeal to a wide as possible audience while also pleasing shareholders, so anything that could be remotely considered potical (even though its just science) is regarded as a bad addition to a videogame unless if it's to propegate an already popular view held by the large majority (nazi's are bad f.e).

[@feartheghus]

It’s constantly brought up, stop acting like it’s not mainstream.

[@RyanReenBattikh]

I hate America

[@MCKretin]

I love how much you tie games to broader social contexts and global events. I don't know of any other channels that blend investigative journalism with long-form game essays. Such a fan and so glad to have seen all your growth over the years!!

[@veigar9347]

Wrong liberal, climate change is left wing BS and the so-called scientists are all democrats

[@ggr.]

Facts thats exactly why I love George so much, he really puts the journalism in "game journalism".

[@IRMentat]

@@veigar9347 climate change exists, no complex system can exist in stasis forever, the larger the system the more inevitable that sopmething will change. that's the entire reason the term changed from global warming, the "impending" ice age and probably a few others over the decades. Upon every model breaking the goal-posts are moved to an ever more generic use of language. if the "conservatives" hadn't spent decades colapsing due to declaring random pop-culture phenonenons as the cause of all evil/violence/degeneracy/change while reading passages from a storybook as their justification things would not have gotten to the point where "the left" (n.b. organised and well funded socialist movements rather than organic movements) had managed to usurp the media, education, the civil service and many of the soft-sciences and spit out generations of activists peddling by-rote one-sided views of things that can be compromised on. The "right" failed in it's own hubris and the "left" has been running rampant ever since.

[@amilcarconceicao3155]

Strat-Edgy Gaming is the best at these kinds of videos. Highly underrated

[@getjac]

Check out Jacob Geller

[@DamianOchramowicz]

me, watching climate change documentary when I was 11: sure that's all interesting, but i'm sure adults will figure it out me, 26 adult: yeah right

[@WestPictures]

George is increasingly becoming the maddest lad on youtube with the last few videos, I love it

[@TTCnoobyProductions]

He always was!

[@justderp5713]

Exactly, doge. He’s working with the lizards to distract us from the cheeseburgers slowly taking over the moon. I also 100% disapprove how George doesn’t use the noodle clip at all in this video.

[@funnymonkeyxd1479]

@cyotee doge George doesn't really say anything about the topic itself, more so just the way game mechanics interpret it and how culture has changed. Very surface level observations for something so serious. He doesn't offer any ideas that solve the problem without leaving a chunk of blue collar workers unemployed. Carbon Capture technology is one factor that seems to be pretty efficient from removing and recycling CO2 pollution from the air.

[@Crispman_777]

@@funnymonkeyxd1479 "He doesn't offer any ideas that solve the problem without leaving a chunk of blue collar workers unemployed." That is a ludicrous expectation to put upon a single layman. Literally thousands of scientists work on this issue every day and still haven't properly figured it out.

[@snintendog]

here is a solution get rid of the worlds largest polluter CHINA Until they get down to atleast USA's levels China behind 80% of all pollution world wide with US being 9% a distant second. Tis not hard once you see the numbers no matter how much we do it wont mean a thing if china undoes it all with their BS we already HAVE solution in place in the USA not perfect but if CHina adapted them would cut so much pollution out we might already be avoiding the doom clock if not pushing it back multi millions of years..It seems the CCP is always at the center of earth dying lately.

[@mausklick1635]

Endless Legend has you fleeing a rapidly cooling planet.

[@AlphaNumericKey]

Great game. I didn't think it was so much rapidly cooling as entering a period of extreme climatic instability caused by *spoilers* though. Regardless, it has the same effect: Various regions become gradually uninhabitable and climate refugees start becoming a thing while factions gradually end up splitting their resources between military might to seize resources from their enemies while frantically shoring up their cities with expensive and difficult to acquire methods of survival during the long winters.

[@MrSandMan961]

Shut UP I've been playing nothing but that for the past 3 days.

[@Minastir1]

The winter is coming: the video game

[@MRozzaqYusaliano]

It kinda depends on your faction though, less intelligent species just think that "Oh, if we are strong enough to push everyone to have peace with each other, the global cooling will be solved!" and it become their canon victory condition

[@5ataner]

This video was just a 30min buildup to a stab at how watered down civ games have become. If there was any intention to make a solid discussion on the topic, there is an abundance of environmentally conscious games to talk about.

[@ganondorf66]

I liked your use of the Backstreet Boy's tour

[@ratpunkgurl]

@some guy That's why it's not funny.

[@zevaronxz7288]

a backstreet boy's what?

[@Jaooda]

@@zevaronxz7288 Basically at the start of the pandemic youtube was weird about monetizing videos so the channel Game grumps started saying "Backstreet boys reunion tour" instead to avoid the algorithm and it kinda caught on.

[@Padrier958]

@@ratpunkgurl you sure?

[@baumkuchen6543]

@@Jaooda Fuck... now I need to watch the whole video again so it makes sense :D

[@NekoiNemo]

A-and 20 years alter, i learned what that coloured gem on Civ 3's UI was

[@genm4827]

13:08 I had no idea these term changes were being enacted for political purposes. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising, but it's wild to see it on a document like this anyway.

[@Crispman_777]

It's also a better term as it encompasses all of the other environmental effects that pollution causes along with global warming.

[@DefinitiveDubs]

You'll find that a lot of that stuff happens to mentally manipulate you behind the scenes. Note how "consumer" has replaced "voter".

[@Eon2641]

This is the go-to play for conservatives. Can't say you're for/against something without sounding like an actual monster? Try calling it something else! It's not global warming, it's climate change. They're not refugees, they're illegal aliens. It wasn't about slavery, it was about states rights. It's not common sense pandemic response, it's tyranny This is why being politically conscious is so important.

[@ott1186]

@@Eon2641 around 50 years ago they said the world was cooling, then they said it was warming, but it's actually gotten cooler since 2012. It was changed to climate change because that covers their asses either way. I recycle every day and keep clean but there is so much misinformation around this subject. If you had been politically conscious of this over the last 10 years or so you would know this. Also when you talk about refugees, most of them in those camps aren't. They're called illegal aliens because they are there illegally and do not qualify as refugees. Maybe you still want to help these people, but be honest about what they are.

[@Leon_der_Luftige]

@@ott1186 Ehm, no. It was clear since the 1880s that earth is getting warmer. You could look up some documentaries from the 70s or 80s saying the same thing. Stop dismissing the overwhelming evidence, you easily manipulated pawn.

[@JustSkram]

The fact people still consider global warming a myth or unimportant is almost as terrifying as Backstreet Boy's reunion tour ticket prices.

[@JustSkram]

@Alvaro CAro around 80-100 for the cheapest

[@Bluesine_R]

Future generations will remember those who tried to do something while there was still time and those who didn’t.

[@MAJ0R_TOM]

Not that it's unimportant, but it looks inconceivably impractical and futile to do anything substantial in reversing any of the effects of carbon emissions or increasing oceanic acidity. Any country that cares could put their entire population in the stone age, but wouldn't stop the planet's largest carbon emitters who are extremely apathetic to the issue.

[@Readysetheal]

@@MAJ0R_TOM So, do nothing instead?

[@Crispman_777]

@@MAJ0R_TOM Yes. It's truly in the hands of the USA and China.

[@krabilonia]

This is legitimately the channel with the best video-essays about videogames in general GODDAMN THANK YOU GEORGE

[@MrSnakeeyes55]

You should also consider Noah Caldwell-Gervaise. He’s excellent.

[@SpicyChickenGodAJ]

Alpha Centauri is genuinely one of the best written strategy games ever made.

[@OverlordZephyros]

Wish they could remake it with better graphics and music. But leave everything else alone

[@rafaelneumann8365]

@@OverlordZephyros Beyond Earth was supposed to be it, but it was too toothless to even be considered a spiritual sequel.

[@OverlordZephyros]

@@rafaelneumann8365 I know.i bought it at the time unfortunately... I was very bored and disappointed 😔

[@BrezelCeviche]

Yes, I loved how much character they had. Also, factions would behave according to their ideology not just trying to beat the game.

[@WodkaEclair]

It really needs a remake with some basic quality of life improvements, but no real mechanical changes

[@bluewolf361]

One game I wish you had spoken about is one called "Imagine Earth". Where you're tasked with setting up flourishing colonies on other worlds while competing with other coporate entities. It has a heavy focus on the environment and the impact your infrastructure has, as well as the impact that other, less caring nations have on overall CO2 emissions, going so far as to end the game outright in failure if you let the climate collapse completely, and should you disable the gameover option, have to deal with massively rising sea levels, frequent storms, wildfires and volcanic activity.

[@peffiSC2source]

I recently thought about how strategy games (especially 4x Paradox games) are really good to demonstrate the political theory of Realism in international relations. But it also comes with the consideration that it's only like that because developers think that's how international relations work. I think studios like Paradox have made great strides in including mechanics that reflect other political theories, but it's not quite there yet, since it's hard to gamify such a complex system into something playable. For example in Stellaris you can have a space UN, but it probably would be even less effective than the real UN, because people can immediately check whether resolutions will be a net benefit or a net negative for them. In the real world that stuff is often far more complicated. Really cool topic though and kind of scary that the algorhythm recommended this to me lol.

[@DaDARKPass]

paradox's grand strategy games suck at saying anything other than "war is the best and everyone should war"

[@Dirtyblue929]

As if by magic, the Civilization 6 DLC that dropped just after this video came out has a new “apocalypse mode” option where climate change and related disasters are much more serious and letting the climate reach the final disaster stage causes a game over that wipes out humanity.

[@aturchomicz821]

bruh

[@Arashmickey]

Call to Power and Alpha Centauri future techs are what I miss most in the later (unmodded) Civ titles.

[@thierry2720]

Call to Power 2 is my favorite Civ, and my favorite strategy game by far... Man those space and sea cities were fun, as were the televangelists and the eco-terrorists! Clearly one of the most underrated gems of all time! - yeah, I like it that much! :)

[@SoulSukkur]

Just a nitpick, at 22:48 You said Trump removed us from the Paris Climate agreement in 2016. Trump wasn't in office until the 2017 inauguration. He resolved to withdraw from the agreement that June, but part of the agreement stated that the US couldn't leave until 3 years had passed. We officially sent the divorce papers last November. Unless I read wikipedia wrong.

[@Ghi102]

Since the US didn't do anything about the Paris agreement since Trump's been in power, does it really matter?

[@DefinitiveDubs]

@@Ghi102 Yes, because it screws with George's narrative that the divorce coincided with Civ VI releasing without any global warming.

[@LoserHands]

@@DefinitiveDubs it's reality, not just a narrative. Global warming is a public issue that a lot of people deny. Games that used to touch the topic don't anymore, because they want to sell to every stupid person. The president denies global warming, and we voted him into public office. These are both reflections of the same public stupidity. No blame.

[@nathanbishop2886]

modesthero objectively, loser hands is right. Sorry.

[@SoulSukkur]

@@jackorlove4055 Firstly, I'm going to assume it was a typo when you said "destroying the environment is a good thing" "There's been few, actually game-changing implementations as solutions to environmental sustainability" Tell us. Please. What policies meet your standards? Citation, please. "There's nuts who don't believe in it, and you can strawman them all day and use them to represent the majority" You follow this with "I live in Canada" so maybe you literally just don't know about how much the denialism has grown. Down South, the conservative heads who DO acknowledge the environment has changed are arguing that it's always changing, and outside of human hands entirely, so the best action is inaction. They think any environmental regulation should be handled by the corporations themselves, which would never implement meaningful change at the cost of profit, and so they always go with the cheaper option of using "the environmental friendly agenda as a PR clutch" "NOT actually investing in or creating meaningful changes/technology that is just as convenient and cost-effective as to truly make meaningful strides in sustainability." You say that like there are magic solutions where sustainability doesn't come at a tradeoff, if we just look for them harder. You might not be wrong, because what you've said is essentially unfalsifiable, but we can only do that for so long. So I'll ask you, when would it be time to give up? Do you have like, a number of years in mind, where if we don't find these convenient and cost-effective solutions by then, we can finally try and do our best with what we have? Or do you believe those values should come first, right to the bitter end? Or rather, until food as a whole is unaffordable. Good luck staving of poverty then. Because we're already out of time. Usable farmland is shrinking for many crops. The fish are full of plastic. The ocean is becoming too acidic. We're steadily losing ice, and the water level is rising. This isn't a strategy game anymore: We've already lost. This damage control.

[@justinegan5021]

Thank you for your consistently insightful and thoroughly researched video game contextual essays.

[@retrofuture1989]

Once, I played a game of civ 6 with pure economic growth as my focus and I found my world power of a civilization greatly resembling the US. Quite an insight on the mindset that creates these outcomes. I only noticed my impact after all the assets production and gold were built and found it difficult to switch to less harmful energy sources due to a lack of technological progress in the upper half of the tech tree. The result was that by the time I had greatly reduced my impact, the world was already undergoing the severe effects of climate change. In my pursuit of economic and industrial power, I inadvertently caused the rest of world harm in both loss of resources and increased natural disasters strikes in the game. This mindset is quite a frightening thing. Civ 6 has redeemed itself with this expansion(but they should just make it free, it's terribly overpriced, perhaps not quite yet).

[@enfercesttout]

when its expansion, people can opt out.

[@aturchomicz821]

@@enfercesttout Because switches in the Option menu to decide what you want in your sandbox game do not exsist in your world🤗

[@PradeepPurple]

I was worried George, good to see you posting videos again!

[@Spookybluelights]

If nothing else, we can take comfort in the fact that George played an American Idol gameboy game for this.

[@dizzt19]

He did that some time ago on his stream x) www.twitch.tv/superbunnyhop/clip/ImpossibleEphemeralCodYouDontSay?filter=clips&range=all&sort=time

[@benepic3101]

TELL ME WHYY AINT NOTHING BUT A HEARTACHE

[@gsvick]

It was number five, number five killed my brother.

[@poweredman]

@@gsvick I'm glad I got that reference because that scene is pure gold.

[@e2rqey]

Tbh That Backstreet Boys album was the first CD I ever got. I think I was in pre-school

[@LurkTheDarK]

What is "Backstreet boys reunion tour" code for?

[@connla]

the current pandemic, game grumps coined it back near the start because youtube tends to punish channels that mention the C word.

[@cuentadeyoutube5903]

Climate change

[@EggBastion]

??? How is that even, what?

[@ager126]

the end of the world

[@bigbobilly8991]

Covid-19

[@Marcopolo-pm8ty]

It's also interesting to note that all these games offer essentially the same solution to the problem of climate change : new technology. We'll just engineer our way out of it. It's never just stop intensive farming, stop trade and reduce consumption, reduce flights and travels.Those games never assume that these future technology may also create other problems. Most of our history ma seem like a forward progression, but in terms of managing our worlwide resource, innovation has mostly helped as a temporary patch. Whale oil was wildly used until there were very few whales left and it was replaced by fossil fuels which release carbon dioxide, therefore we need solar panels, which requires rare minerals that we may soon run ot of, etc... I'm not saying technology an innovation is not usefull, or wont be part of the solution, but saying it is the entire solution is rather optimistic or you could even say convenient. After all our current economy says that this is how you solve issues, you throw money and resources at it and keep the machine running. In terms of gameplay it makes sense though, you're just progression along the technology tree, jut as usual. But I would be pretty hyped for a game that asks you to stop and consider reducing your resources consumption.

[@eddydelo]

The problem with "stop consuming/engineering solutions" is that, well, you are essentially telling everyone to take a significant dip in their quality of life in the hopes of preventing a long term problem "organically". Not to mention that many human lives would not be possible today if it weren't for the resources we consumed on a daily basis. Plastics are incredibly useful as containers that prevent bacteria and viruses from infecting our food as an example.

[@retardedfishfrogs1]

P sure nuclear power exists and is relatively clean, and not running out soon. Too much vested interest in fossil fuels tho.

[@Veolynn13]

@@eddydelo Thank you. Really fucking sick of conversations about climate crisis being dominated by doomer, ecofascist scumbags like OP.

[@alacan]

It's a cool place and they say it gets colder The ice we skate is getting pretty thin The water's getting warm so you might as well swim My world's on fire

[@theguildhall3246]

Smash Mouth predicted the apocalypse

[@vaudevillain_2]

Might as well be walkin on the sun.. or is that from All Star? I don't remember

[@Gorbz]

I've been playing Civ games since Civ 2, and I do remember that when I would start getting towards the industrial age, I would try my best to avoid polluting power and mass production, just so that I would not have to deal with sending off people to clean up pollution. Yes, my economy suffered, but I nearly always went for the science victories back then. Now, I rarely get to the stage of having to worry about it as I have normally crushed everyone else under my legions of tanks before I have to seriously think about it.

[@Veolynn13]

"Now, I rarely get to the stage of having to worry about it as I have normally crushed everyone else under my legions of tanks before I have to seriously think about it." Ah, the _fun_ way of preventing climate change; burying the fascist death cults beneath tank treads before they even have a chance to start polluting the planet to death.

[@zachdelaro]

16:03 George, just wanted you to know I greatly enjoyed that tongue twister

[@COLDCHEMICALpresents]

Princess Carolyne would approve.

[@RegsaGC]

That ticking clock sound effect should be enough to keep my anxiety burning healthily for at least a few days.

[@yumyumhungry]

Notably absent from this conversation is Frostpunk. A strategy game dealing with the fallout from a climate crisis. It has you choosing between various bad decisions in order to deal with a rapidly devolving situation.

[@SleepyMatt-zzz]

I love Simulator games! The Sims taught me how to manage finances, Sim city and Cities Skylines taught me how important taxes are, and Civilization taught me that Gandhi always goes for the Nuclear option.

[@Crispman_777]

That's actually a myth, the one about Civ that is.

[@Dicker296]

Is the cycle of money. Citizen pay taxes, then cities grow, then Ghandi goes nuclear

[@AGL57]

Really interesting topic. Following the trail of how poltical perspectives alter narrative in gaming is a far too seldom explored topic. As a person with academic disposition I'm feel this channel really pushes the envelope of what analysis of our favourite medium can achieve. Great work, keep it up!

[@michelottens6083]

Feels to me like big game publishers might just continue caring less and less for any mass scale expressive potential their games might have, as long as they could also succesfully keep investing in their current drive towards this Las Vegas casino type model of the games industry; keep people addicted, socially pressured, and subscribed to the promise of perpetually expanding superficial fluff games. Glad though that there's more games being built than ever now, though, and that a lot of the midtier game industry and higher budget indie games are still competing for critical impact and actual cultural relevance. Also all these old games became more easily available this past decade than they've been for quite a while.

[@michelottens6083]

@@Zorro9129 I'd actually love more diverse characters bringing more original character drama to pop culture (and actually having less hordes of just white dudes in our stories is more historically accurate). My problem is with those token characters that have no playable stories to them, that are just there to get you buying into a slotmachine under the pretense of roleplay. Also even in fantasy settings, diverse characters makes for more engaging stories, always has. But for me a game has to actually have meaningful actionable drama, and the most popular ones have less and less of that it seems.

[@justderp5713]

George then: MGS3 no tranq hardest difficulty George now: Climate Change and 30 years of strategy games George in the future: How I became immortal god king of earth Edit: Anyone know where to get Rise to Power? Alpha Centari was on GoG no problem but Rise of Power is missing?

[@Jose-se9pu]

Seriously, you check videos from just 3 years ago, and this looks like a completely different channel.

[@justderp5713]

Jose 84 I know right??? Absolutely insane. Another youtuber who did a complete 180 is EmpLemon. Used to be a big YTP guy but now he’s doing documentaries on... Dale Earnhardt and a russian nuclear missile soldier? Its incredible how channels can change so much.

[@BrezelCeviche]

@@justderp5713 I think it has something to do with the creator growing up

[@DefinitiveDubs]

@@justderp5713 The editorial/journalism pieces are nice, but I miss when he did retrospectives and reviews and talked about things happening in the industry, versus now when he uses video games as a tool to talk about things happening in real life. He's been doing that for like a year now, and come on. I thought he'd make another video where he reviewed Mario Maker levels now that SMM2 is out, but that never happened.

[@forbiddenwar45]

Alpha Centauri is on GOG, and works great.

[@yy-hj4br]

I'll tell you one thing, this video is for sure not sponsored by Koch Industries.

[@0ctopusComp1etely]

Alpha Centauri remains my favorite Sid Meier/ Civilization game. I have fond memories of sitting behind my father as he played through game after game, each feeling distinct from the last. He still plays it regularly to this day. I remember the first time part of the ice caps melted, flooding important cities my dad had worked on for decades in-game. He had to explain to me what had just happened and why, since it was my first meaningful visual representation of what was actually happening to our planet. My first recognizable exposure to the fact that the lifestyle humanity strives for has consequences on the environment beyond "trash bad". It was powerful and scary, in a childish comprehension kind of way.

[@MichaelADoesIndeedHaveACat]

What about Factorio? I know it's not actually earth, but it does have negative effects of pollution.

[@onemorescout]

I was so early that KZbin threw up a “no stream” error when I tried watching this for a while.

[@deanonfire7503]

Hey, I know a game that wasn't mentioned that drew inspiration from SimCity! Block'hood is a civilization builder that has a heavy reliance on ecological conservation, to the point that considering production resources that generate pollution is all but frowned upon. Really, the tutorial levels felt preachy at that point. But it's simple in its execution and the lesson is small enough to fit in your pocket.

[@shimp9824]

No, Bunnyhop I will not be getting depressed today.

[@toko099o]

It's been a few days. Its a good video. Watch it. Feel the depressing notion that we are all fucked.

[@BrotherSurplice]

Wrong

[@yhormthejollygiant4327]

Zorro9129 Ugh... This battle bores me.

[@shimp9824]

Global warming videos are so fucking redundant. Like I get it, we’re fucked it’s whatever

[@darrylflethen799]

I would like to mentinon that in 2007, they released SimCity DS which let you play through historical eras. The semi-final era is called the "Global Warming" era. There was a mechanic where you could hear people talk on the ground, and in this era, it's all about air quality and people feeling sick as industry increases. You can go one era past this where the world becomes WaterWorld.

[@MikeTheEntei]

You ever beat the game?

[@AdrianArmbruster]

In fairness most aspects of Civ V were pared down to minimum-viable product so it may not actually be a conscious attempt to avoid discuss this issue

[@WodkaEclair]

So you're saying "they weren't avoiding global warming, they were just keeping it separate for DLC"? Lmao I can't tell which is worse [Edited]

[@EggBastion]

You can't [tell] which is worse? _Both._

[@MegaBearsFan]

I always got the feeling that the bare-bones nature of launch Civ V was due to excessive release pressure from publisher 2k. Retooling the game to work for hexes and 1-unit-per-turn was a massive undertaking that required rewriting the whole game engine and much of the A.I. logic. I have no doubt that they wanted to include more; they just ran out of time before 2K decided "No more delays, we're announcing it for release this fall, whether it's ready or not." Also, the expansions were quite good and feature-rich. But neither of them did anything substantial with global warming either.

[@dropit7694]

The games have continually gotten more dumbed down it’s sad really.

[@hellboy6507]

Roxy It’s called they wanted to simplify the game. They removed most of the government mechanics too.

[@residentgrigo4701]

Cosmos: A Personal Voyage with Carl Sagan 1980 already had climate change as a topic half a billion people saw that one. Crazy that it´s still denied so heavily in the US to this day.

[@ZontarDow]

It's probably in significant part due to the fact there are no politicians that accept the science on climate change in the western world. There are those who deny that the problem is a problem, and there are those why reject the models and claim things are far, far worst then they really are. When literally 0% of politicians take a stance that correlates with reality, you're bound to have people side with one side or the other rather then wondering why we keep electing officials who reject science for political ends.

[@residentgrigo4701]

I am German and my government fully accepts climate change even if the response could be better. The Green Party is going strong though and I vote for them. It was also taught in school (I am 31 so do the math).

[@sebbychou]

Honestly, the more we see the statistics, the more we realize that it's not actually denied but rather that the media really REAAAAALLLLLY want to make it appear like it is.

[@jordanetherington1922]

@@ZontarDow There are many politicans in the wstern world who do accept the science. The issue is that there are massive industries who fund the ones who do NOT accept it.

[@PheonixKnght]

When i was in school i was told that the ice caps would be gone and the world maps would look completely different. Guess what it never happened not even a tiny part of what school was screaming at me as a kid turned out to be true. It has been global cooling then global warming now its climate change because guess what? No one would ever say that it doesnt change but the way its used here is meant to instill fear and control people. If you meet a scientist and they tell you that the research is done and all the facts are in they are lying to you. We still research gravity and are trying to understand it better because of how it affects everything in our lives. So knowing that our planet has bigger temperature changes due to the suns seasons more than anything we have ever done says a lot. Now do i think we should pump tons of smoke into the air and dump waste in rivers? No i dont but if you look at how the world really works you will see that as areas reach the industrial age they pollute a lot but they move past that and improve. Look at the amount of waste that was being produced at that time to now in most countries. As we lifted our population higher the less waste we pumped into those areas and the better we are for it. If you look at who pollutes the most China and India who are going though that right now are the ones on top. But as things improve that will drop but the odds of the planet dying in a decade are almost zero and the only way its not zero is nuclear war. Right now the best way to provide power to the world with our current technology is nuclear power. The newest plants in the US are from the 70s and our tech here has changed massively with having zero chance of fallout with how it is now. But they are seen as bad but wind and solar are good even though they devastated insect and bird populations. All the nuclear waste for the last 70 years would fit in a football field and there are ways to even recycle it such as France has been doing. The best way to help the world is to let things progress as they have been. When there is a problem we come up with tech to fix it as we have for thousands of years. But the last few years tech has jumped by leaps and bounds and will keep doing so if we dont stop it from happening. But that is what a lot of regulations do. Push tech that doesnt work or isnt worth it because it looks good or is popular. Then not letting tech grow from proven resources because its not. This isnt saying that wind and solar dont have a place but the tech inst there yet and our governments have made us pump billions or trillions into it yet its still not ready. The materials to make it are not good for the environment, they dont last nearly as long as they should and if i bought solar for my home they would last about a decade and cost about as much as a decade of my current power bills. But if i wait and let things keep improving then i might spend half as much and get twice the life in five years. Dont scream doom and gloom at those of us who have heard it all our lives yet have seen the opposite happen. Dont tell us that we are blind that we are ignoring facts or that we are plugging our ears because many of us have looked into it deeply and see that these green polices are going the wrong way and are meant to make a few people very rich and give others a lot of power. We shouldnt be fighting each other but working together and doing what we can to help everyone.

[@BrezelCeviche]

This is one of your best videos. Keep it up!

[@chevyjackson605]

I can't help but be so absorbed into anything George puts out. He just flows with passion

[@modsiw10k]

Haven't watched it yet but i'm hyped as hell the title alone sounds very interesting

[@VikCain]

I already have liked the video on the strength of the title alone. Now let's see how it plays out.

[@VashdaCrash]

It is very interesting, even if it gets depressing it's the kind of information that needs to be told

[@bobrooney3336]

hell yes... good to hear from you mr. bunnyhop. great video. hope you re doing okay in these strange tines. all the best from germany

[@luisoncpp]

To be frank, I don't think to summarize all the ambientalist concerns into "global warming" is a smart move. Wildlife equilibrium, pollution, sustainable sources of energy, quality of air, all that is important and tangible regardless the global warming. So I don't see the first civilization games as really tackling global warming and I don't think all the environmental problems in a simulation game should be structured around the temperature of the planet. That being said, the effects of the climate change are something unpredictable but very likely catastrophic, so for a game featuring the climate change in a realistic way I think the smartest thing to do would be to swap to a random climate every place of the world and let the local population, local flora and fauna to suffer the consequences. Some parts of the world would need to deal with very big natural disasters destroying cities, others would have their natural resources ruined because they were adapted to other climates and few ones would still have their cities and resources intact, and all that instability could motivate the players to start conflicts with others in order to get more natural resources(places with the resources intact would instantly became a target from other places) , and that could affect society, being less content with the government and could lead to civil wars.

[@haloljt]

it's not just random. it would be quite misleading to portray it as such

[@haloljt]

@Charlie Rose he literally writes that it should be done as such in order to "feature climate change in a realistic way"

[@ebonyblack4563]

Eco getting a mention is great, and overall a well rounded video.

[@christof7738]

A really insightful video, I learned quite a lot. Thanks for that!

[@fugitiveunknown7806]

I really wish they'd do another Fate of the World style game. It was flawed, but quite unique.

[@jonghyeonlee5877]

By any chance have you tried Delnar_Ersike's Unofficial Patch? See steamcommunity.com/app/80200/discussions/0/648813728485880969/ - it fixes a lot of bugs. If you go through the Steam forums, you can also discover some fixes for some of the remaining bugs.

[@Chimera-man-man]

Love this video George! A difficult thing that these games may one day have to reconcile is that climate change is a “wicked problem”, one that has no clearly defined solution and so many interrelated variables and causations that it is nearly impossible to visualise and identify a pathway to averting it. I’d love to see a game that attempts to visualise climate change as a systemic issue though, Fate of the World comes the closest I think It would actually be extremely helpful for everyone to have a game that helps people visualise climate change in a way that isn’t just “you’re burning too many fossil fuels make more wind turbines”

[@Leon_der_Luftige]

There actually are clearly defined solutions. You just have to look them up.

[@shazang0]

Neon Leon Wow someone should let all the world leaders know that we already solved climate change, they just have to look it up! Amazing!

[@BrezelCeviche]

​@@Leon_der_Luftige Yep, determining the solution or discovering the technology has never been a problem. The big problem stems from the political will to implement such changes.

[@KaiserFredVIII]

@@shazang0 We haven't solved it. We know how to, but we *don't want to*. Like Brezel Ceviche said, it is a question of political will. We'll just keep going BAU on our path of overcomsumption to maintain profits up until our whole civilisation commits suicide by hedonism.

[@Chimera-man-man]

Neon Leon oh thank god, I’ll let all the climate scientists, climate change activists, NGOs, politicians, ecologists and environmental scientists know that Neon Leon on KZbin dot com has got the solutions for them

[@Caphalem]

Almost exactly 24 hours ago was thinking on how I'd like to see a new Super Bunnyhop video and here you are :)

[@fiatlux8828]

This was one of your best videos in a while. I thoroughly enjoyed pretty much all of it, and I especially liked that you approached this topic with sensitivity and humor that is sorely lacking on KZbin when talking about climate change.

[@frocco7125]

Exxon actually knew about todays impact climate change would have on the world decades ago.

[@tomhill3248]

Someone should punish them. And I ain't talking the courts.

[@MrPobanz]

Sounds like the tankie wants to play with his favourite toys again...

[@geemcspankinson]

@@MrPobanz Well, what are you, then? An anarkiddie? Ansyn? Cappie?

[@Yafama]

Coley Durham Yeah, we didn’t keep cigarette at a low price with no warnings because “people chose enjoyment over health”. Same thing the need to do artificially increase the price through various effective measures and make clear to the consumer the effects of this specific product ( What does this product do ethically and environmentally)

[@powerklawftw]

@@Yafama You're right, people stopped buying cigarettes and alcohol after we levied excise taxes on them. Just like when we levied excise taxes on gasoline, people stopped using gas. If only there were alternatives to this extremely regressive tax plan of yours. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something might SPARK my memory at some point...

[@LuisAngelGamer]

I’m really impressed, how do you even come with the idea of making a video about this? Very cool tho

[@DisgruntledDoomer]

Maybe he went so far as to play the Civ games once or twice.

[@Rakinjo2]

"The next Civ game will not feature gravity, planetary curvature, the dimension of time, religion or politics as mechanics, the ability to build and maintain a military, or any gameplay at all. These features have all been scaled back to avoid forcing a stance on controversial issues."

[@aturchomicz821]

D:

[@Veolynn13]

But there's one (1) woman in the back corner of the box art with skin _slightly_ darker than #ffffff, so it _will_ still be considered "too political" by mainstream videogame audiences.

[@aturchomicz821]

@@Veolynn13 Gamers have ruined Gaming🗿🗿

[@BEEFBEEFBEEFIFY]

"Deser...tif...i..cation" George are you alright?

[@EggBastion]

GeorgeWiedman is not responding Would you like close it or wait?

[@sidtandy4333]

Thanks for a brilliant mini-doku! The title made me think of the post apocalyptic, tactical rpg game "Burntime" from 1993. Like many games of that time, the copy protection made you go search for words in the manual, only this manual was about 130 pages long and about 80 pages where dedicated to educating the player about the dangers of radioactive waste, carbon emission, fossil fuel, greenhouse effect etc. In the forward the company (Max Design) had some inspiring lines like "We believe that anyone who enjoys a good game is also interested in world current affairs both now and in the future".

[@jarrodanderson4825]

28:00 it's pronounced closer to "mow-ree"

[@0num4]

And "new-clear"

[@BobisOnlyBob]

George is forever going to be stuck with his New-kew-lar pronunciation no matter how many times he's corrected on it, I'm actually used to it by now and just find it kinda cute hearing this very silly Bushism-sounding word out of a guy who is otherwise clearly smart enough for investigative journalism and research

[@RRW359]

I've heard Kiwis get mad at people for pronouncing it both ways.

[@TheSoulHarvester]

MAY AWRI

[@kieraleahy6795]

@@RRW359 I've always heard "mao" like m-ow ("ow" I got hurt) rather than "mow" like the lawns but I'm honestly not sure which is more correct, either way may-ori is super wrong. If you say it like that in NZ people are going to laugh

[@frankdamsy9715]

As someone from Southern Louisiana, as soon as I saw that BP part where BP is trying to position themselves as environmental savoirs, I let out an audible "oh fuck off" at the very prospect

[@irongalleon7432]

Why is it that whenever I go “Wait where’s George” a video comes out within 24 hours

[@kurtworgan5632]

Well then you should have that thought daily!

[@kiloalphahotel5354]

Thanks for the vid. Always great.

[@4077Disc]

*As Ad Read Starts* Oooooooooooooooooh...... I just got the Backstreet Boys Reunion Tour thing. I feel really dumb. Great Vid!

[@Kabissz]

This was great retrospective, thanks!

[@brawndo8726]

13:06 OMG! Super props for knowing your history. Whenever I hear right wingers say ~"why did you stop calling it global warming" I roll my eyes and curse Frank Lunts...

[@aturchomicz821]

Enviromentalist gang yeah!

[@TheSoulHarvester]

Frank Luntz continuing to live is definitive proof that there is no American left-wing.

[@snuffeldjuret]

and people seem to not know that CC in IPCC stands for climate change.... :P.

[@StrategyJoe]

Superb video! I'm glad youtube put it first for "strategy games documentary" query :D

[@frocco7125]

If you want an interesting game featuring climate change, I suggest you look up "Spinnortality". A tycoon game set in a capitalist dystopia where you're able to bring about the climate apocalypse through the pursuit of profit.

[@frocco7125]

@@Zorro9129 *insert yes chad meme*

[@cropathfinder]

They forgot to mention that in Alpha Centauri THE PLANET IS A FACTION! Its an unplayable faction that retaliates against human aggression while at the same time balancing that response to always go against the factions that are most eco unfriendly.

[@danis8455]

Nobody in the comments screaming lies and conspiracies.....thats quite refreshing!

[@thevomit5851]

Being in this echo chamber must be so nice. Thank goodness your point of view isn't being challenged!

[@logitech4873]

@@thevomit5851 He's talking about scientific facts, not opinions. There's nothing good about arguing for demonstrably and utterly false conspiracy theories.

[@snuffeldjuret]

@@thevomit5851 a point of view should not be challenged with lies....

[@thevomit5851]

@@logitech4873 Basically what you said was "I'm right ur wrong hurr durr". There are plenty of reputable scientists who say Climate Alarmism is demonstably and utterly false, you just don't listen to them.

[@thevomit5851]

@@snuffeldjuret You calling me a liar buddy?

[@pjbutton3396]

I love Civ 5 and I didn’t know the previous games had such extensive climate mechanics. Beautifully written video as always

[@reubenm.d.5218]

Same!

[@jamesbuckley6875]

Never been so early to a video that it says "No views" by the view count.

[@theultimategamer8537]

James Buckley looks like your new to this platform partner cause that happens all the time

[@jamesbuckley6875]

@@theultimategamer8537 Been on KZbin since 2007 and haven't seen it before partner. Not saying it isn't rare, just first time for me.

[@AjentMM]

Years from now, our kids will slap theirselves in frustration for how soon the global warming warnings were while also asking, "What does the Backstreet Boys have to do with this?"

[@Feroste]

Tragedy of the commons is a myth. The bulk of pollution is created by a handful of corporations. Not me and you driving a combustion engine to work 30 minutes a day.

[@aturchomicz821]

sad!

[@Veolynn13]

TotC is a real thing, but it is not at all applicable to climate change (and is often misused to justify capitalist bullshit). The rest of your comment is 100% spot on, though.

[@ExcelBaller]

Always unique content, been a fan since your metal gear series

[@xayer98]

Tbh this video just kinda made me sad. REALLY good video, just hit hard...

[@thebatman_yo]

Incredible video, content this good is hard to come by.

[@LeonClassified]

13:10 Sorry George but you're dead wrong. Global Warning has been called Climate Change since at least 1975 with the article "Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?". To be more specific Global Warning is a form of Climate Change. Source: gpm.nasa.gov/education/articles/whats-name-global-warming-vs-climate-change

[@logitech4873]

@N K Global warming and accelerated global warming are still common terms in the scientific literature. It really hasn't changed.

[@snuffeldjuret]

if you listen to what he actually says, he isn't really wrong.

[@MrLex86]

While it mostly serves as a backdrop, Battlefield 2142 frames a global conflict brought about by rapid global cooling. The two remaining super powers rush to control the habitable equator, and the scarce remaining resources.

[@jxun4l3ht10]

We live in a SimCity Society

[@Trav18]

No mention of Frostpunk?

[@PsychOsmosis]

I've heard quite a few streamers/KZbinrs recently that pronounce *"nuclear"* incorrectly. As a non-native English speaker, I wonder, is this only limited to the United States, or is it widespread in the English speaking world?

[@mqL49J]

Hey, don't act like you don't have waterheads over there in Europe too.

[@tomstonemale]

he does it on purpose, dude. It's an inside joke for the people of this channel

[@Leon_der_Luftige]

@@mqL49J Well atleast here in Europe, pretty much everyone except every country's loony-party has accepted climate change is to be tackled quickly. Meanwhile you guys in the US... well. Maybe start off with algebra all over again? Or learning a 2nd language? Or atleast look up where all those countries you think you are better than actually are.

[@0num4]

@@tomstonemale I've been watching this channel for years...if that's an inside joke, I don't get it. I just figured it was another of George's botched attempts at enunciation.

[@tomstonemale]

@@0num4 it's not really hard to get. He mispronounced something one time, there's dozens of comments telling him he mispronounced a word but he keeps doing it. Sometimes is obviously on purpose, sometimes is a foreign word or name he really doesn't need to know how to pronounce it but there's always those people who like to correct him anyway. It's not bad per se to correct someone but in the wrong context it's rude and it gets really silly on the internet, where the focus of the discussion is lost because people got fixated on that ONE mispronounced word.

[@davidmelgar1935]

Wonderful explenations!!

[@Jesse__H]

Say it with me, George. Nuclear. NEW CLEAR. Nuclear.

[@oscarmccormack1611]

+

[@Crispman_777]

New cle er.

[@zmdumpbox2340]

Go easy on him, he's stuck in Georgia.

[@Leon_der_Luftige]

Sadly nuclear power is no solution either in this energy crisis. Uranium will run out in 30-40 years and then we're back at the drawing board once again.

[@poojab69er]

@@Leon_der_Luftige false, this is only true if you ignore breeder reactors and other types of nuclear power

[@matthewmoodie4941]

Sid Meier didn't design any of the later Civilization games, he just put his name on them (like Tom Clancy). Here is a list of Civilization games with the lead designer for each one. Civilization: Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley Civilization II: Brian Reynolds Alpha Centauri: Brian Reynolds Civilization III: Jeff Briggs Civilization IV: Soren Johnson Civilization V: Jon Shafer Civilization VI: Ed Beach

[@igorthelight]

So only the first one. WOW! I thought that first 3 games were actually created with his input.

[@matthewmoodie4941]

@@igorthelight Some other Civilization games were maybe created with some of Sid's input, but he was not credited as the lead designer on any other project. Soren Johnson, AI programer on Civilization III and lead designer on Civilization IV, once said that everyone has got one civ game in them, first because they use all their ideas on what makes a good civ game up and also because civ games are so exhausting to design.

[@Tychoxi]

lol i actually had assumed the "rising tide" expansion had to be about climate change

[@snuffeldjuret]

made me think of: “Tide goes in, tide goes out. Never a miscommunication. You can’t explain that. You can’t explain why the tide goes in.”

[@HelixWek]

Great video. Very good commentary!

[@therexdragonblade6821]

quarantine: you have nothing to do... fall to despair me: youre wrong. i have them (points at youtube game reviewer and analysts uploading quality content)

[@GuilhermeAlbani]

missed your videos, happy for the new one!

[@KarolaTea]

Oh wow, super surprised that such early games included global warming! And even more disappointed that newer ones don't... Great video thank you very much!

[@Handedlydecided]

This is one of the most Super BunnyHop topics for a video and I love it.

[@BVargas78]

Please don't go. The drones need you. They look up to you.

[@nw5605]

I remember playing a flash game quiet like fate of the world. You could develop new techs and make decisions on how to produce electricity, fuel and food on a global scale. But no matter how hard, i can not find anything about it online. No post, no screenshot, no game play video. Does anyone of you got any suggestions what it might have been?

[@BloodyAltima]

A thing I do like about how Civ VI handles the matter is that you fundamentally cannot have a modern military and avoid climate change. The oil required for your divisions of tanks, armadas of bombers, and fleets of warships will eat into the climate damn fast if left unchecked, and it's hard to manage a modern war even against the AI without racking up a few climate stages. Given that the US military is presently one of our largest sources of pollution, this seems surprisingly, and maybe unintentionally, apt.

[@aturchomicz821]

huh

[@geminusleonem9365]

Funnily enough, a Civ 6 DLC will be released tomorrow that adds in Forest Fires, an incredibly rare Meteor, and the "Apocalypse". Essentially, once the Climate Change bar (seen around 25:56) fills out the world enters into the "Apocalypse" stage where you have massive and constant desertification, floodings, storms, and fires (plus it seems they have boosted up some catastrophes to be able to raze cities). You also have "Soothsayers" that can bring bad omens to other civilizations to increase their chance of having a natural disaster... which is kinda weird... and there are still no Tsunamis or Earthquakes in the game which is a shame.

[@Ront1313]

"That stupid of a question"? Come on, don't sell yourself short so quickly, that"s a hell of a complex question.

[@rudyhero1995]

I guess he meant more in the way of will playing call of duty 2 hours a day help me with me with understanding Croatian business law, aka unrelated

[@f00g3n7]

so how does frostpunk fit into all this?

[@igorthelight]

Like a fantasy. -175 Celsius degrees is a fantasy :-) But the idea itself is interesting. Endless Legend is another interesting game in that regard.

[@MrGuillaumzed]

I'm glad to see a video about global warming games with such an audience. A little sad my own strategy game about this is not listed inside, but well, you were not doing an encyclopedia (and mine is kind off "just a mobile game" too) ! It's called "ENERGY WARS! Green Revolution" and it intends to show the "sick" dynamic between economic needs and global warming. The more you dig fuel in the game, the more you create growth a,d light cities, and the more you pollute and affect the size of the hurricanes roaming on the earth map. It's a simple fast-paced game, with many cities and countries to be destroyed by economic crises, wars and hurricanes... you win by creating enough green devices along the way. Feel free to try it out some day if you like this kind of stuff :-)

[@seventhhusaria]

I have such a soft spot for Civilization Call to Power. I remember one game where a neighboring civ collapsed into rebellions with future barbarians roaming all over. I would explore this neighboring civ with broken maglev networks and missing or shrunken cities. All the while, my coastal cities kept being lost to global warming events. I think that was the only civ-type where I really bought into the whole concept of a dark age.