Brian Crecente on ‘Pig Chase’: can gaming with animals change the way we think about food?

Brian Crecente, News Editor of the forthcoming Vox Games, takes a look at the videogame initiative Playing with Pigs, and how bonding with animals through games could change our perspective on the food we eat. The project in question, Pig Chase, was created as a way to provide a more stimulating environment for animals being bred for food production. Using a tablet, players manipulate a ball of light projected on the wall of a barn; the pig noses the ball, and the pig and player together move the ball towards a goal. The game could help reestablish the connection humans had with animals before factory farming and supermarkets, or simply further our disassociation between the barn and the dinner plate — but playing is the only way to know for sure.