The Plastic Pipeline

Client: THE WILSON CENTER

FableVision partnered with the Wilson Center on The Plastic Pipeline to educate and encourage policy change that combats the real-life “plastic pipeline,” which causes havoc on the worldwide environment. The Wilson Center is a nonpartisan group dedicated to providing policymakers with independent research and open dialogue to create change in the United States.

In The Plastic Pipeline, the player is an influencer in Plastic City who has the power to create change. By visiting different locations, the player meets characters who interact with the pipeline at every stage. These fun animal characters, such as Flamingo Regina, Beaver Beaverly, and Squirrel Walnuts, represent different voices within the discussion of what to do about single-use plastics. Players interact with the characters and learn their ideas for how to solve the problem of plastic pollution.

For phase 2 of collaboration, The Wilson Center and FableVision created a new minigame for The Plastic Pipeline, seeking to educate users on another aspect of plastic pollution, nurdles. Nurdles are the “legos of the plastic world,” the smallest unit of melted down plastic. The game centers around capturing the nurdles with a net before they damage the environment and creatures. The difficulty of the clean-up process makes users question what more can be done, leading to policy change and reform as a better solution.

By centering the game around policy decisions, FableVision and Wilson Center show that the largest burden of responsibility for lessening plastic pollution falls on legislatures and policy makers, instead of individual consumer actions.

The Plastics Pipeline won a 2024 Games for Change (G4C) Award.

A Peek Inside

Product: web game

Age Range: high school, college students, adults