The importance of zoos and the conservation and preservation of all animal species has never been greater, as detailed in this article. Due to the devastating effects of humanity on the natural world, zoos are playing an increasingly crucial role in trying to protect animals and help them recover from the damage that humans have caused.
To help the world come around to being more mindful of the natural world and more willing to repair the damage that our species has done, we need to raise awareness with people of all ages. While adverts and campaigns help, a more intuitive way to connect large audiences to the need to protect animals is through gaming, the latest of which has research and learning about conservation as a fundamental part of its gameplay.
At E3, Frontier Developments showcased their upcoming game Planet Zoo. The game itself looks fantastic from graphics to content and is sure to appeal to many players. We need as many top-quality animal-centric games across all platforms to connect people to the natural world in new, hands-on ways to, hopefully, bring their mindsets to be more in tuned with pro-animal efforts.
Planet Zoo focuses on realism and conservation
In 2013, Frontier Developments brought the much-loved Zoo Tycoon PC game franchise to the Xbox One, which didn’t go too well. Luckily, they redeemed themselves with Zoo Tycoon Ultimate Animal Collection in 2017, fixing most of the problems that gamers had with the restrictive original. They went on to better their console-based zoo development simulators with Jurassic World Evolution in 2018, which continues to improve with each update.
Now, in 2019, Frontier Developments is going back to zoos but this time with Planet Zoo, from the franchise famous for Planet Coaster. In the new game, as reported in this interview, there is a heavy focus on the welfare of animals and it delivers a strong conservation message to reflect the real-world importance of keeping these animals healthy. As for gameplay, players will have complete freedom to design the zoo, habitats, decorations, and animals with the more expansive PC platform being used for Planet Zoo.
The importance of animal-centric games
While most people appreciate that humanity as a whole needs to be active in the protection of animal species, it’s not an issue that regularly comes to mind as problems closer to home, such as politics, take precedence. Games that show animals in a good light and positively reinforce them in the mind of the player embed a greater respect of the unique species that are supposed to share the world with us.
You don’t even have to look as far as triple-A video games to find games which allow players to connect and appreciate animals. As you can see on this site, many of the slot games boast animals as their theme. Not only does this make them appealing to animal lovers, but they also show seeing animals on the slot games as a rewarding part of the gameplay.
In the North American-based game Wolf Gold, the wolf symbol is a powerful wild while the bison, bald eagle, panther, and wild horses are all high-paying symbols. In Jungle Spirit: Call of the Wild, the tiger, elephant, bear, alligator, and cobra can expand across the reels for huge prizes. Then, in Great Rhino, the rhinoceros, cheetah, crocodile, hyena, and flamingo make up the most rewarding symbols in the game. They may only be image symbols that win the player money, but this form of positive association does play a part in the user’s opinion creation of certain animals.
New ways to connect people to animals are increasingly important to the conservation cause. Slot games do a light job of positively reinforcing animals, but games like Planet Zoo and its focus on the modern zoo systems will do a grand job of promoting the need to care for animals among its gaming audience.
