In an age when oil is becoming harder and harder to find and many are calling for more renewable energy, Maersk, a shipping and oil company, has released a new game ‘Quest for Oil’. The game allows players to experience the stresses and strains of successfully managing an oil company.

Maersk said one reason the game was created was because of criticism that the oil industry is suffering from a lack of transparency. The game is is part of the company’s larger plan to engage and educate the public about oil and gas exploration and also to inspire young players to consider employment in the industry.

“By playing the video game you can learn some basic and more advanced aspects of our industry: how to combine data from different sources and make very difficult decisions on high value or high cost, so risk based decisions based on a variety of incomplete information. If you’re successful, you can see how you can grow the business through this game,” said Jakob Thomasen, Maersk Oil CEO.

“The idea of the video game is to introduce the players to the industry and there are secrets in the industry, but we try to give away whatever we can give away and be very transparent about how we do our business,” concluded Thomasen.

Let’s hope that when players discover how hard it really is to find oil, they realize the importance of renewable energy.