Board games are a reflection of their times. The game Monopoly embodied the capitalistic spirit of a nation on the rise. The Game of Life captured the essence of the picket-fenced American dream. Risk reflected the reality of a new, nuclear-armed world order.
Catan, arguably the most popular board game of the past couple decades, emphasized the deeply political nature of our quest for resources, power and development.
But now it has a new twist.
A new, standalone version of the game, called Catan: New Energies, includes many of the same dynamics as its previous version, but adds another layer of political drama: carbon capping and climate management.
Here’s how it is described by its creators:
“In this memorable and meaningful standalone Catan experience, you and your fellow players manage energy needs for your societies. You’ll start with cheap fossil fuels that cause pollution events and interrupt resource production. But as you invest in renewable energy, pollution events are replaced with rewards for sustainable strategies. You’ll monitor and negotiate with fellow players to decrease pollution, which affects everyone. As in real life, the most sustainable player does not always win, and as in any Catan game, there are multiple paths to victory. But, if pollution levels remain too high for too long and the game ends in catastrophe, the player who has invested most in renewable energy wins. In its essence, this Catan variant highlights the importance of investment in renewables.”
As if the original version wasn’t divisive enough, Catan’s creators are now upping the ante in the form of “environmental inspectors,” “global footprint markers,” “science cards” and “hazard tokens.”
And, while the new game reflects a simplified version of the climate dynamics playing out in the real-world, it does have instructional merit. In fact, scientists and policymakers often rely on “game theory”–a mathematical framework for analyzing strategic interactions between rational decision makers–to gain insight into the opportunities and challenges associated with devising sustainable environmental policies.
Here is one way game theory can be used to understand the complex dynamics of environmental sustainability–both in Catan and in the real world.
Catan’s ‘Tragedy Of The Commons’
The tragedy of the commons is a concept that highlights the tendency for individuals to exploit shared resources for their own benefit, leading to the depletion of those resources in the long run. Originating in an essay by ecologist Garrett Hardin in 1968, it illustrates how rational, self-interested behavior can result in bad outcomes for society as a whole. The term “commons” refers to resources that are accessible to all members of a community, such as grazing land, fisheries, or clean air and water.
An example of the tragedy of the commons is overfishing in the world’s oceans. Fish stocks in open-access waters are often treated as common property, where anyone can fish without restriction.
Each individual fisherman has an incentive to catch as many fish as possible to maximize their profits, leading to overexploitation of the fish populations. As more fishermen enter the fishery and technology advances, the pressure on fish stocks increases, resulting in declining populations, smaller fish sizes, and damaged marine ecosystems.
Despite the collective understanding that sustainable management is necessary to maintain fish stocks for the long term, individual fishermen often prioritize their immediate economic interests.
Without effective regulation or enforcement mechanisms to limit fishing or protect breeding grounds, the tragedy of the commons unfolds, with fish stocks being depleted to the detriment of both present and future generations.
In the original version of Catan, players race to acquire resources and grow their civilizations, without regard for sustainability. Catan: New Energies more accurately depicts what is happening in today’s world–self-interested countries can opt to pursue breakneck growth, but there’s a risk that it could come at the cost of civilization itself.
Hopefully, the new version of Catan promotes a greater appreciation for the importance of coordinating sustainable climate policies. More likely, it will result in even more family feuds than the original.
