Hummingbirds are industrious little birds; constantly zipping from flower to flower sipping sweet nectar. Their size, colour, and rapid flitting have long made them an object of fascination for people, and the Hummingbird Simulator is an online game that capitalizes on that popularity by offering a user an experience to flit through their virtual word as a hummingbird. Hummingbird Simulator 3D: Bird Life was released in 2018 by Tayga Games OOO, which aims to create a “world-building” experience for a variety of ages. The game appears to be simple and user friendly; a gamer can flit the hummingbird from forests to bright meadows where you can find a mate, start a little family in their nest, all while trying to satisfy their insatiable hunger for nectar. Like other games that allow you to play the part of an animal, the goal is to create an empathetic connection to the hummingbird and its life, though the ultimate success and impact of games like this are questionable. Apps, games and other experiences seeking to form a “connection” can also create an inaccurate picture of the status of animals and a false sense of security. The reality is that hummingbirds, like many bird species, are threatened by deforestation, urbanization, pollution, and other factors that make it difficult to find food and reproduce.
“Hummingbird Simulator 3D: Bird Life.” Apple, Accessed September 15, 2020. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hummingbird-simulator-3d-bird-life/id1240755542
Categories
Aesthetic/Leisure, Internet of Things, Psychology
Air Pollution Robot
The dangers of air pollution to human health are well documented, though the traditional methodology of collecting and reporting on sample lags behind the need to keep abreast and regulate air pollution in a meaningful amount of time. The use of drones and robots have been identified by researchers as resources that can be tweaked […]
Artificial Life, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Industry/Natural Commodities, Lifestyle, Monitoring
Telematic Rivers
Erica Kermani’s artwork seeks to answer a central question: if rivers were seeing an equal, living entity, would humans take issues like climate change threatening them more seriously? In his year-long art exhibition in 2017, Kermani, in collaboration with Diana Salcedo & Jeana Chesnik, created a new forum of interaction between humans and rivers to […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies
Co-occupied Boundaries
Art is easily found in nature but rarely is what considered art today inherently natural. The concept of co-occupied mediums that serve to be both functional for nature and aesthetically pleasing to people is being actively explored by Asya Ilgun and Phil Ayres, from the CITAstudio at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies