Shloka, a new digital game produced by scholars at the University of California, Santa Cruz, uses Hindu deities, practices, and narratives to communicate the problems of climate change to people in India and throughout the Hindu diaspora. As players encounter gods from their religion who teach them about local issues like water pollution and smog, the culturally familiar framework enables a deeper understanding of climate responsibility.

"The larger takeaway is that cultural familiarity drives immersion," Marman said. "People are much more interested to see the culture represented. They're much more interested to see the teachings of their culture being shown through a game in which they can interact with."

More information: Sai Siddartha Maram et al, "Pray For Green, Play For Green": Integrating Religion into Climate Change Serious Games, Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (2025). DOI: 10.1145/3715336.3735764