Do you have more than one version of any Gameboy iteration?
Own any extra peripherals and controllers you no longer use?
and the big question
What will you do with your Rock Band Drum Set when you tire of Rock Band?
Waste is a very large part of our society and so is gaming. The waste that is being created
by gamers is growing every year. As gamers, it is important to have the latest system,
game, or accessory. But where does it end? I know several 360 owners who have
purchased new Elite 360s. DS owners with fat and slim DSs. PS3 owners excited at the
news of a
new slim PS3. Isn't one working system enough? Do you need
multiple pieces of equipment that are essentially the same thing, just in different
packaging? How many next gen systems does one gamer need?
Every piece of hardware, software, and peripheral leaves a carbon footprint, some larger
than others. What is the environmental cost everytime you make a purchase? Will you use
the item for a
prolonged period of time? Look at the Wii fit board, how long until it is landfill?
Greenpeace has
done a great job identifying areas that the big three can improve in and also provides a link
so you can email the company of your choice recommending they become more earth
friendly. Visit the site and drop the big three a note today.
Personally, do something about the problem. I did. I made a choice to not buy the complete
Rock Band set. I have the game but I
use my Xplorer guitar from GHII and a USB mic. I don't have the drums nor will I purchase
them. All those Rock Band drums, the two million plus out there, will eventually have to be
thrown away. I'm really disappointed that a more environmentally friendly alternative isn't
available for the drum set like these
mini sized drum pads. I want to play the drums in Rock
Band but not at the expense of the planet's future.
Perhaps you are familiar with the worse video game offense that I know of. The Atari 2600
E.T. debacle. Atari was so
concerned with their image they crushed and then slabbed over truckloads of E.T.
cartridges that weren't selling. Even though the game sucked, the waste Atari created was
even worse.
So what can we, the gamers, do to make gaming greener? Here are some simple steps:
1. Only purchase necessary gaming accessories. Fan systems, steering wheels, cases, and
other peripherals are not needed to enjoy the games. Do you really need a stage kit with
smoke and mirrors to enjoy Rock Band? How many steering wheels do you need? Restrain
your purchases and the larger the item the more cautious you should be when purchasing
it. Case in point, where are all those Steel Battalion controllers nowadays?
2. Trade your old video game equipment. Trust me,
there is a gamer who wants what you have. I recently acquired an Atari Jaguar and am
looking for an Alien vs Predator. Don't throw the old games and systems away, someone...
somewhere wants them. Lets keep them out of the landfills.
3. Recycle your electronics. Costco
http://www.greensight.com/CostcoTrades/Common/equiptypes.aspx has
established a trade in program with Greensight
Technologies where you can even get cash back for trading in your electronics. It is sad but
only 1 in 4 consumers in the United States actually
recycle their electronic waste. Way too
much is making it to the landfills that shouldn't.
Landfills are, ultimately, good for the environment and for people in general. Granted, gaming waste isn't going to be decomposing all that well for the purposes of energy generation (some modern landfills capture methane), but almost all landfills are converted into public park space and serve a purpose far beyond trash disposal.
Recycling gaming gear so that people can continue to use and enjoy it is one thing, but I wouldn't be so concerned about landfill overfilling. In the US, we could fit all of our trash for an extremely long time (50 years? Can't quite remember the stat now) in an area 30 miles square.
Yeah, I can see your point although I really like the drumming part of Rock Band. But like you said, if you are not going to use it then what is the point of owning it. One man's trash is another man's treasure.
Why not buy the drum set? It's one less set heading to the landfill considering you actually keep it. And it's always good to give away older consoles to the less fortunate or family/friends that don't own one as a way of getting them into gaming. I've owned 3 Playstations (PS1, PSX) in my lifetime, none of which I still have. I've given them to friends and I gave one to Value Village so someone can enjoy it.
Now just throwing the fucking thing away is a douchebag move
I collect them and hook them up in my classroom for the students to play. Super Smash is what they are currently playing on a N64. Last year was GH on a PS2. Year before that was Super Mario 3 on a NES. I switch it around. Currently I have a Genesis, Super NES, NES, N64, 2600, 5200, Jaguar, Dreamcast, PS1, and a PS2 that I rotate through the classroom. A student was going to throw the Jaguar away but gave it to me instead. I don't need it but at least I will use it.
You might also want to consider that your 360 sucks in a meaty 160 watts of power. Average about 4 hours of play a day and that's 233.6 kilowatt-hours per year.
Isn't it great to be lower/middle class and have A/C, cold beer, a huge TV and tobacco? *belches*
@Jojimbo y Sadistic: Don't worry. Dirty Hippy Day is almost over.
I feel guilty for all the crap I have being shipped from china, containing enough toxins to kill a child and having the money I spend on it invested in weapon and oil.
@illuminatatus - You're right. I was totally wrong. Went and checked the info.
35 miles square, 200 feet high could contain 1,000 years of American trash at the rough, current rate of 220 million tons a year.
There's an excellent episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit! (Season 2) that investigates recycling and finds it to be a wasteful exercise, in time, energy (manufacturing) and money (government subsidies) and is actually bad for the environment but exists to propel an environmental industry that has sprung up around it. Except aluminum. That's beneficial.
It seems like me and Wardrox are d-toid's resident Envirofags.
I keep my systems. My spare controllers etc all stay with me. If they're thrown out then its not with my consent. All the boxes my stuff comes in stays in my room and often ends up with piles of crap on top of it thus removing my need for tables in my room (hey!). At the same time its not buying peripherals that is the issue as often they do make the experience more enjoyable where they fundamentally affect gameplay (steering wheels, flight sticks etc) and anyone who's chucked out their Steel Batallion controller is a dick as those things are worth a fortune now.
The thing to watch is the settings. A lot of consoles have options that keep them in a hibernative state, if gamers kept track of those options then that could be massively helpful.
The guilt is only there to make the consumer live in fear. Fear drives sales.
"You're watching the news, you're being pumped full of fear. There's floods, there's aids, there's murder. Cut to commercial, buy the Acura, buy the Colgate. If you have bad breath, they're not going to talk to you. If you've got pimples, the girl's not going to fuck you. And it's just this... campaign of fear and consumption... Keep everyone afraid, and they'll consume."
The worst thing about "Envirofaggery" is that almost all of the people who try to speak up for these issues don't have the first clue as to what they're talking about.
Yes, there are a plethora of environmental issues assailing our world, but the last thing this planet needs is more moronic, well-meaning douchebags. After all, and this is rather contradictory for me to say, Earth is gonna be doing just fine long after we wipe ourselves out, regardless of what we do to it now. We shouldn't be trying to be environmental for the planet's sake, we should be environmental so we don't have to live in a sh*t-hole, and gaming hardware is hardly a major contributor towards that.
The answer to the question is obviously "NO", gamers aren't the problem but everyone can do, in most cases, very small things to help alleviate the problem and in turn help themselves and other gamers out. The suggestions are not offensive, controversial, nor prohibitive and the comments left include some key points I forgot to mention(turn off your machine at the wall).
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
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about me
You name it, I play it. The only console I don't have is the PS3 and that is by choice. I am proud to still have an Atari 2600 that works! I recently added a Nintendo 64 and Atari 5200 to my collection of classic systems!
I have been a hard core gamer every since I could cross the street to my local Sears to play "Sinbad" pinball. I have had a home gaming console since the original Pong and haven't stopped gaming. I've been lucky to attend 7 E3s, write reviews for several webzines, and have been published numerous times in print regarding education and gaming. If you haven't figured it out, I am a teacher :-)
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
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I still have every game/gaming-system I ever bought ( except for maybe 1 or 2 games that I sold to somebody else )...
I just pollute with using vaste amounts of energy and game-wrappings :-)
Is it Hippie Day already??
Landfills are, ultimately, good for the environment and for people in general. Granted, gaming waste isn't going to be decomposing all that well for the purposes of energy generation (some modern landfills capture methane), but almost all landfills are converted into public park space and serve a purpose far beyond trash disposal.
Recycling gaming gear so that people can continue to use and enjoy it is one thing, but I wouldn't be so concerned about landfill overfilling. In the US, we could fit all of our trash for an extremely long time (50 years? Can't quite remember the stat now) in an area 30 miles square.
Yeah, I can see your point although I really like the drumming part of Rock Band. But like you said, if you are not going to use it then what is the point of owning it. One man's trash is another man's treasure.
God damn hippies. I fucking swear.
Why not buy the drum set? It's one less set heading to the landfill considering you actually keep it. And it's always good to give away older consoles to the less fortunate or family/friends that don't own one as a way of getting them into gaming. I've owned 3 Playstations (PS1, PSX) in my lifetime, none of which I still have. I've given them to friends and I gave one to Value Village so someone can enjoy it.
Now just throwing the fucking thing away is a douchebag move
Somehow I missed this bit the first time I read it:
"I want to play the drums in Rock Band but not at the expense of the planet's future. "
Dramatic much?
Ah I forgot how much the whole ET atari debacle was the gamers fault. How is it our fault if no one bought it?
What Conrad said.
Conrad, you are so so wrong
@ Heretic
I collect them and hook them up in my classroom for the students to play. Super Smash is what they are currently playing on a N64. Last year was GH on a PS2. Year before that was Super Mario 3 on a NES. I switch it around. Currently I have a Genesis, Super NES, NES, N64, 2600, 5200, Jaguar, Dreamcast, PS1, and a PS2 that I rotate through the classroom. A student was going to throw the Jaguar away but gave it to me instead. I don't need it but at least I will use it.
You might also want to consider that your 360 sucks in a meaty 160 watts of power. Average about 4 hours of play a day and that's 233.6 kilowatt-hours per year.
Isn't it great to be lower/middle class and have A/C, cold beer, a huge TV and tobacco? *belches*
@Jojimbo y Sadistic: Don't worry. Dirty Hippy Day is almost over.
Err. Ahem
Game Green? Turn all that crap off for a day.
Very very good article, cheers for writing it up.
I feel guilty for all the crap I have being shipped from china, containing enough toxins to kill a child and having the money I spend on it invested in weapon and oil.
I do what I can, switch it off at the wall.
@illuminatatus - You're right. I was totally wrong. Went and checked the info.
35 miles square, 200 feet high could contain 1,000 years of American trash at the rough, current rate of 220 million tons a year.
There's an excellent episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit! (Season 2) that investigates recycling and finds it to be a wasteful exercise, in time, energy (manufacturing) and money (government subsidies) and is actually bad for the environment but exists to propel an environmental industry that has sprung up around it. Except aluminum. That's beneficial.
What's an Environmental problem?
Seriously though, Recycling is probably the best thing you can do if you can't find someone to sell it to.
I'm just sick of people lecturing about the environment, apparently not even dtoid is safe now.
Send the games to me.
It seems like me and Wardrox are d-toid's resident Envirofags.
I keep my systems. My spare controllers etc all stay with me. If they're thrown out then its not with my consent. All the boxes my stuff comes in stays in my room and often ends up with piles of crap on top of it thus removing my need for tables in my room (hey!). At the same time its not buying peripherals that is the issue as often they do make the experience more enjoyable where they fundamentally affect gameplay (steering wheels, flight sticks etc) and anyone who's chucked out their Steel Batallion controller is a dick as those things are worth a fortune now.
The thing to watch is the settings. A lot of consoles have options that keep them in a hibernative state, if gamers kept track of those options then that could be massively helpful.
The guilt is only there to make the consumer live in fear. Fear drives sales.
"You're watching the news, you're being pumped full of fear. There's floods, there's aids, there's murder. Cut to commercial, buy the Acura, buy the Colgate. If you have bad breath, they're not going to talk to you. If you've got pimples, the girl's not going to fuck you. And it's just this... campaign of fear and consumption... Keep everyone afraid, and they'll consume."
-Marilyn Manson
Fuck off Al Gore.
The worst thing about "Envirofaggery" is that almost all of the people who try to speak up for these issues don't have the first clue as to what they're talking about.
Yes, there are a plethora of environmental issues assailing our world, but the last thing this planet needs is more moronic, well-meaning douchebags. After all, and this is rather contradictory for me to say, Earth is gonna be doing just fine long after we wipe ourselves out, regardless of what we do to it now. We shouldn't be trying to be environmental for the planet's sake, we should be environmental so we don't have to live in a sh*t-hole, and gaming hardware is hardly a major contributor towards that.
@everyone
The answer to the question is obviously "NO", gamers aren't the problem but everyone can do, in most cases, very small things to help alleviate the problem and in turn help themselves and other gamers out. The suggestions are not offensive, controversial, nor prohibitive and the comments left include some key points I forgot to mention(turn off your machine at the wall).
In the end, do what you can, or don't.