Consider a new game Packaging Man, which its creators bill as follows:

If you play the game, you'll see that it is a straightforward Pac-Man clone, with a few colors changed. An animated introduction is the only aspect of the work that attaches the theme to the gameplay. It's not even a re-skin; it's just Pac-Man with a bizarre intro.

I get a lot of emails about games various groups have made and want to promote. While I don't really enjoy the press release spam requests, many of these emails are much more directed, from individuals who have thought more deliberately about why our readers might be interested in their game. But then, so often, the games are so forgettable and meaningless, I don't know what to do with the requests. Usually I pen a short, derisive post. I don't really enjoy doing this--I'd much rather share interesting examples of the medium.

So when I received creator Dogwood Alliance's announcement I took them up on their offer to answer questions. Explain to me, I asked as nicely as I'm probably capable of, how your game, a straight port of Pac-Man with some colors changed, represents "saving forest creatures by collecting excessive packaging and recycling it?" They were kind enough to reply, citing the opening sequence and the end-of level "call to action" petition. They also pointed me to environmental blog Gristmill's mention of the game, which generally mirrors my opinion. So many missed opportunities. I may have built a reputation for taking pleasure from negative reviews of serious games, but I'd really much rather write positive ones. I just never seem to get the opportunity to do so.

Why couldn't Packaging Man actually be about the ways fast food packaging makes its way to forests such that it disrupts the environment of woodland creatures? If you read Doogwood's webpage on the topic, you'll learn that the southern U.S. forests are still the world's largest paper source, and that 25% of logging mill output goes to paper packaging products. That's a pretty amazing figure, one I bet most people don't fully grasp. Dogwood also claims that if only a few sectors used post-consumer recycled materials, "substantial" environmental benefits would ensue.

There are at least a few potentially interesting, thematically connected games one could draw from this description alone. One might be about working a southern paper mill and processing facility, which would give a more concrete sense of the types of output of logging and how woodlands might change if the packaging portion were reduced or eliminated. Another might be about more credible processes consumers can use for recycling paper materials. Yet another might deal with the economic and social tradeoffs of consumer packaged goods companies as they weigh using recycled paper in packaging products. I'm sure there are more. Making such games would be a lot harder than re-releasing Pac-Man, to be sure. But if the two pages of text on a webpage offers so much more rich and subtle information than a game, then why bother with the game?

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