NL
Part of Reality Glitch

A HAND IN THE GAME (2017, 25 MIN)

In 1996, the market encouraged teachers to use the newly released simulation game, SimPark, as a means to educate children about ecology. The introductory pages the manual claim that the programme provides progressivity and alternative learning. However, the deeper one delves into the system of the game the flaws emerge one by one. The recommended way of starting the simulation is to introduce flora which in turn prompts the algorithm to add animals. Introducing human objects into the park invites a human population. They are ill behaved, straying from their paths to the dismay of the animals and most notably, they produce garbage. In order to get rid of the human waste, one is instructed to populate the park with scavengers such as rats, raccoons and black bears, as these have garbage listed as a nutrition preference. Humans bring a higher influx of money than your yearly tax revenue and money is a main component to managing your ecosystem. With insignificant funds, it is not possible to add new life. In essence, the game insinuates that without money not even the ecosystem can work. We have to assert human management to ensure stability. Spore was released 12 years after SimPark by the same software company. In contrast to its predecessor, you start out as an amoebalike creature and go through both bodily and moral evolution until it is time to colonize the whole galaxy. Thus the work concentrates itself around the manifestation of our anthropocentrical power paradigm.


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