As the planet approaches a climate catastrophe, more and more people and companies are working to mitigate its impact. Cars are getting electric, straws are getting organic, and even video game cases are getting slimmer. But one industry where he has fallen far behind is board games.
With a focus on wowing its customers with big boxes and plastic miniatures, and with manufacturing processes and questionable ingredient sourcing largely based in China, the board game may be doing: many More to show they care about the Earth as much as they shift units.
This is a discussion beyond the forum that anyone can do, but it is also a discussion that is currently being conducted by experts. With the publication of green game guidea paper published today by a group of publishers, designers, industry representatives and academics.
It analyzes how the board game industry works and what it’s currently focused on, pointing out that it’s driven almost entirely by what it thinks will sell rather than what’s best for the environment. Then, based on a holistic approach that takes into account not only how the game is made, but how its components are recycled, and the workers’ rights to protect them all It provides a framework and potential solutions to this.
These solutions include minimizing the size of the game box, avoiding excessive packaging (and wrapping everything in plastic), avoiding plastic components, and using wooden and cardboard This includes ensuring that our components are responsibly sourced and ensuring that renewable energy is used. as much as possible during the manufacturing process.
Like the recent video game paper we covered (and share some authorship), instead of wrapping everyone in the knuckles, green game guide aims to provide companies with a range of grades and options, highlighting where current options are the worst possible and outlining ways to improve them.
Most of the papers are aimed at industry, but are presented in such a way that they are very interesting reading for everyone. It’s about board games and/or climate policy. Note that there is also advice for players there, and you can pay attention to games made with FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and similar certifications, and can also pressure companies to make more aggressive changes by contacting them and letting them know.
Not all negative. Some positive ones are listed as examples to follow, like the one that won the Spiel des Jahres Kingdom Minowhich is “a fine example of an efficient and attractive game package”.
“The size of the box is a fine line between fitting internal components without sacrificing accessibility and leaving too little empty space,” says GGG. “The domino tiles are pre-punched, which avoids the problem of carrying extra weight, and also avoids taking up space that is not needed when the tiles are removed from the large sheet on which they are printed. .”
“At the same time, the box size provides a substantial art surface for an attractive display.”
If you want to read the full text, you can check here.
