Although video games seem to be a product of a culture of abundance, they create challenges for their players by requiring them to negotiate conditions of lack, as can be seen in the recent rise in games that portray post-apocalyptic worlds in which scattered survivors have to scavenge for basic resources in barren environments and destroyed ecosystems.

Bringing together scholarship from across the globe, this volume of RCC Perspectives aims to shed light and stimulate discussion on the past, present, and future of the “unruly” environments that frustrate efforts at social and environmental control.