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Energyville, a Sim City-Like Application for Understanding Energy

 

Posted on July 23, 2008
Coralie Franiatte

 

At a time when the price of gasoline is alarming, the second biggest US oil company, Chevron Corporation, launches an advergame— Energyville—with the goal of explaining, in a more interesting way, our energy consumption problems.

The idea is simple: the visitor’s objective is to provide the “city” of their choice with enough energy power to meet the energy demands of the city’s inhabitants, factories, and mass transit system. The visitor can choose between several types of energy: coal, petroleum, nuclear, solar, wind, natural gas, biomass, etc. Throughout the game, users can learn about the advantages and disadvantages of each of the different energy sources.

The player will receive points depending on his/her choices and according to 3 criteria: the environment, security, and economic costs.

At the end of the game, scores are divided by category and compared with the scores of other players. Of course, it is possible to invite your friends to play, too.

It’s hard for this advergame not to remind us of the famous Sim City computer game: the player takes the role of city mayor. Additionally, the choices made regarding power stations affect the city’s management.

This campaign also seems similar to some TV commercials for Areva, a big European player in the energy sector.

At a time when people are becoming aware of the energy problems we face and when “sustainable development” and “ecology” are keywords, the oil sector is hitting a PR low. At first glance, this seems like a nice initiative on the part of the oil giant. That being said, isn’t it also a bit hypocritical of Chevron to want to inform the public about ecology when it is part of the immensely polluting oil industry?

With its online game, the company doesn’t seem to be trying to inform Internet users about ecological concerns as much as it seems to want people to be aware of how difficult it is to provide energy to a city (following the strict ecological measures in place). This might merely be an attempt to counter all the attacks oil companies are being hit with at the moment.


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Sources:
- Article on culture-buzz.fr
- Energyville
- Adapted by Jessica Hartstein


 

Comments

1. Wednesday 23 July 2008 attime 15:28, by Tony

It is great that you wrote this article on Chevron’s new advergame, Energyville. Thank you for letting us all know about it.

This advergame looks to the mix of possible energy solutions and lets the player make choices. Those choices are a function of the demand you and I create each day without thinking about it, yet we expect it to always be there.

The world marketplace sets the demand for energy. Energy companies compete with each other for the opportunity to supply a mix of solutions that best suit our needs. They do take into consideration related issues like cost, the environment, political issues, and more. What they cannot control is our demand.

At Walt Disney World in Orlando,Fl. in their EPCOT park, there has for many years been an attraction called ENERGY which has been hosted by Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye the "Science Guy".

The point of the attraction is to help consumers to understand the issues brought up in Chervon’s advergame Energyville. It is one of the best attractions in all of the Disney Parks.

Helping consumers to better understand the issues with supply can have profound effects on our choices for energy use. Better informed consumers can make changes in their demand for energy as a result. These changes are all a part of the conservation process.

Thank you Chervon for reaching out with your Advergame, to try and raise issues, educate, and package it all in a fun game for everyone to play for free. This is so much better than a TV commercial or other form of branding.

Thank you Coralie for taking the time to write to this subject matter. Your article is appreciated by many and I will pass it on to others.

Tony

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