Playing for the Planet? A Process-Centric Framework for Analyzing Ecogames in Commercial Platforms

As environmental crises intensify, video games have emerged as vehicles for sustainability communication. Stakeholders increasingly pursue “green activations” –campaigns mobilizing commercial gaming platforms to develop ecogames aimed at environmental awareness. This article refines and operationalizes a process-centric analytical framework to examine how socio-ecological contexts, campaign structures, and video game ecosystems co-shape ecogame design and circulation in such initiatives. Through a case study of a museum-ledMinecraftcampaign in Venice, employing stakeholder interviews, paratext analysis, and socio-material mapping, findings reveal persistent tensions: platforms reducing infrastructure and audience acquisition costs while imposing constraints on content design and distribution; awareness-raising aims withoutimpact assessment; the perceived accessibility of popular platforms masking pay-to-access barriers; and erosion of institutional control as ecogames transition to third-party commercial distribution. The refined framework offers analytical tools for comparative research, enabling scholars and practitioners to critically navigate the processes shaping sustainability communication within commercial gaming platforms.