According to the Unity report, gamers have a strong sense of climate change

Unity released a new report today detailing how gamers think about climate change. According to the findings, gamers care deeply about climate change and want to do something about it. They seem particularly interested in how the gaming industry can influence climate change. That said, they don’t always actively do something about it.

Unity produced the report, called “What do gamers think about global warming?in conjunction with Yale’s Climate Change Communications Program. It drew its findings from interviews with 2,034 adults in the US who play video games. The researchers asked the gamers about their thoughts and feelings about climate change, and whether the games industry was doing its part to reduce the problem. The authors compared the study’s findings with those of Yale Report “Climate Change in the American Mind”published earlier this year.

In addition, the report found that gamers – 73% to be exact – believe that climate change is real. 70% of interviewed gamers say they are concerned about it and 74% say it is important to them personally. As for gaming companies, 56% of the gamers interviewed believe the industry has a responsibility to act on climate change. Gamers’ feelings on the subject include “angry,” “sad,” “disgusting,” and “scared.”

While many gamers report strong feelings about climate change, they are less likely to put those feelings into action. The majority of gamers (55%) say they “rarely” or “never” discuss the topic with family and friends. One in ten gamers (13%) said they would take action on climate change after hearing news about the topic in a game or stream. Their reported willingness to participate in action is higher than the overall US population – for example, 49% of gamers were willing to volunteer with a climate change organization, compared to 32% of the general population.