Think running an Oil Major is so easy? Chevron challenges you to run power policy for just one city (willyoujoinus.com). Of course, establishment assumptions are hardwired in this Simms-style distraction. I immediately set strict conservation goals for Gangstaland and drag and drop as much solar and wind as allowed. Of course, nothing really gets started until I plant that offshore refinery.
Gaming for score exposes my hypocrisies. While I accidentally haul out a dastardly nuclear plant, I’m giddy when a national dump opens ahead of schedule. Not only do I now have somewhere to cart my deadly waste, but my score improves immediately. Growth is a given here, and solar typically isn’t viable until 2015. Most importantly, the true environmental costs of traditional energy development don’t come calling here. One can only hope that 2.0 includes a truer impact of militarized oilfields halfway around the world; Climate Change’s food scarcity recipe and sea level rise; and global health and wealth inequities. In the time it takes the world to gobble up another 880,000 barrels, I score 24,949th out of a supposed 661.7 million players.
My takeaway? Time for Chevron to quit making stupid PR games. Time for the rest of us to quit playing along.