Climate Change Simulator: An Online Game Known as FutureGuessr
In the midst of ongoing global challenges such as floods, extreme heatwaves, and wildfires, a new online game named FutureGuessr has been launched. This innovative game, developed by Artefact 3000 in collaboration with climate organization Réseau Action Climat, uses AI to visualize potential future environments after climate change.
FutureGuessr aims to raise awareness about the potential impacts of climate change on various locations around the world. Players are dropped into these transformed environments and must guess where on Earth they are. The game presents a range of environmental changes, including submerged islands in the Maldives, the Amazon rainforest converted to savannah, drifting Antarctic ice masses, and the disappearance of France's Mer de Glace glacier.
The game transforms the GeoGuessr mechanic to explore climate scenarios while maintaining its engaging guesswork element. Each landscape in FutureGuessr features two scenarios: one showing the consequences of climate inaction and another presenting resilient futures. This dual approach aims to demonstrate that projected climate impacts can be preventable rather than inevitable.
The game's visuals respect real-world topography to create realistic and often disturbing future landscapes. Benjamin Sultan, a research director at IRD, climatologist, and IPCC expert, endorsed the project and praised its scientific approach.
The game simulates environments where global warming reaches or exceeds 2.7°C by 2100. The AI system in FutureGuessr is hosted locally to minimize its carbon footprint. The transformations in the game are based on scientific data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, and the game uses specially developed AI technology to convert textual prompts from IPCC reports into visual projections.
FutureGuessr launched following the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice. The game is presented in 360-degree environments for players to explore. The project is positioned by Artefact 3000 and Réseau Action Climat as a bridge between science and public understanding without moralizing about climate action.
No information in the search results identifies any organization that has announced collaboration with Artefact 3000 for developing FutureGuessr. However, the game's format mimics GeoGuessr by challenging users to identify their location from visual cues.
In conclusion, FutureGuessr offers an engaging and educational experience that sheds light on the potential impacts of climate change. By exploring transformed environments and guessing their locations, players can gain a deeper understanding of the consequences of inaction and the possibilities of a more resilient future.
