It's been a while since I've posted on an advergame or newsgame, so here's one that's a little of both. Starbucks and Global Green USA bring us the eco-educational, "Planet Green Game," a fact-filled, Flash-based, multi-media experience that sometimes contains some interaction resembling gameplay. The premise is that you are a citizen of Evergreen, USA, and you must help make your home, transportation, and town greener. In most cases, you do this by correctly answering softball quiz questions, matching identical items, or clicking on things.
I originally started writing a much longer post, complete with screenshots, to explain why I think this game is so banal, but in the end I decided it wasn't worth it. There are some interesting moments in the game, but I'm not sure if all these are intentional and ultimately these are outweighed by the mediocre playability of the other minigames. I did learn a few facts about conservation and climate change, but I bet I could have learned these just as well from a nicely done PowerPoint presentation.
So rather than talk about what I find un-interesting about the game itself, I'd rather discuss briefly the game's branding as a serious advergame, which I do find interesting. As you're probably aware, Starbucks has gone to great lengths to green-up their brand. They proudly announce how much of their coffee is Fair Trade Organic and what percentage of their cups are made from recycled material. There's an earthy feel to their more recent designs, and their color-scheme has always centered on a foresty-green logo.
At the same time, Starbucks is widely criticized and protested against for (among other things) trying to take over the world. One could easily imagine an equivalent of Molleindustria's McVideogame with a Starbucks theme, and indeed McDonald's and Starbucks are often co-targets in anti-globalization protests (along with Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, etc.).
So this game is clearly part of that overall eco-friendly branding, and as such, it's got to be part of a broader strategy to make the corporation seem less evil. Even as such, I think they (Global Green USA) are attempting to communicate a valuable message about conservation, so maybe its association with Starbucks doesn't influence the importance of that message. It's interesting to note, though, that the game itself educates the consumer about what you can do, and the information about what Starbucks is doing is relegated to an About this Game page on the main website, which exists alongside a page where you can learn how to buy a CD with the game's soundtrack.
As you can tell, I have mixed feelings about this. I see as I'm finishing this that Ian has already posted his thoughts, and he too seems kind of ambivalent about it.
More generally, if the most interesting features of this game are embedded in its context, I confess I'm kind of worried about the state of interesting or provocative games on the web. I don't know if the novelty is wearing off, or if we're just in a lull period, but it's been a while since a Flash game really hit me with something that made me think. Maybe it's just me. The Game Show Network has continued to crank out games based on news items, but their recent efforts have just seemed silly or sophomoric. What do you think? Played any interesting Flash games lately?
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