Playing for the Planet

In our final thread of games that went live this week, we'll focus on RPG & Strategy. Usually, these games don't quite take place in the same world as ours. But that doesn't mean there aren't parallels to be drawn between them. ⚒ Players in Amazon Games' New World will be rewarded for preparing dishes inspired by natural resources in-game. The top dish will receive additional rewards and recognition as Aeternum’s Cooking Star! While this is live players will also encounter in-game activities on gathering and cooking. Outside of the game, to support the theme of “SMALL ACTIONS, BIG IMPACT” the New World team will produce content that helps their community understand how sustainable approaches at scale can have major environmental impacts and long term health benefits. 🌍 In Orna from Northern Forge Studios, user-identified real-world polluted sites are added to the Orna map. Players from around the world combat monsters that spawn here by planting trees, from which local players reap rewards - building an ethos of ""paying it forward"" into the existing game mechanic. 🔨 Incremental skill-building game Melvor Idle from Jagex asks players to take three key skills offline: Farming, Cooking and Crafting. The team will put a sustainability-focused twist on each category, with players invited to share photos of their participation on social media using specially created stickers. ⚔ Finally, a pop-up quiz inside Empires and Puzzles from Small Giant Games will challenge players to consider the impact of their food on the environment. This runs in parallel with food themed challenges on social media and a broader event calendar on the interconnections of the natural world to human health and happiness. Find out more about this year's Green Game Jam: https://lnkd.in/eaMCKHFi

Today's post is a long one: we're taking a look at arcade and puzzle games, and how they're linking their gameplay to real-world environmental action. It can be difficult since these games tend to be more abstract, and less directly linked to the real world. But all of them still incorporate a learn-by-doing mechanic and often have dedicated player bases, which the following games have leveraged. 🔎 June's Journey is a point and click puzzle game with a tightly knit community, and have been running events since May. The Seeds of Kindness and Grand Green Gourmet social media contests asked players to submit photos of their sustainable recipes and gardening tips to unlock in-game rewards and vouchers for real-world sustainable busineses. At the same time, their Harvest Surprises in-game even will engage players from 9-17 September with a themed celebration to win a unique decoration - alongside a new animated story. 🛥 Go Go Magnet from Oh BiBi will focus on cleaning the ocean through collective action. The game will prompt players to carry out real-world activities to be rewarded in-game, with examples including repurposing tin cans as plant pots, collecting and recycling dead batteries at home and following the Go Go Magnet guide to develop water-saving habits. 🖋 Moving into the more abstract puzzle and arcade games, GamePoint Bingo's players have been completing in-game themed missions which will unlock a community donation to save more than 75.000 sq2 of wildlife habitat. 🧠 MAG Interactive's QuizDuel, Wordbrain and Wordzee will each incorporate themed quizzes and events into their German markets to test players' knowledge of environmental action and provide them with the resources to learn more. ⭐ Finally, Space Ape Games Ape will engage Beatstar players in an event with cosmetic rewards themed around food. During the event period, players will be challenged to try a vegan or vegetarian meal and share a picture of it on social media for a chance to win additional rewards. Find out more about this year's Green Game Jam: https://lnkd.in/eaMCKHFi

Community is how we learn. Seeing others engage in a behaviour makes us likely to replicate it, and a sense of identity in the action makes it likely to be repeated. In these games, players often work against each other. But now, we're asking them to come together. 🚗 Drive Ahead from Dodreams Ltd. shows ocean pollution as the *result* of the in-game car battles, that the players must then clean up to unlock a Recycled Car and helmet. They'll be directed to a Youtube video showing how to craft a small replica of the car in the real world. 🔫 Alongside social media contests to prompt real-world action, PixelGun 3D from Cubic Games introduces a fire-demon attempting to destroy the natural ecosystem. Gameplay will involve extinguishing fires to heal the World Tree, restoring order and preserving nature. 🌳 Created with UCL professor Mark Maslin, PUBG MOBILE from Tencent Games has introduced the World of Wonder map series re-imagining Erangel 100 years after climate change if we don't take action. Meanwhile, players can create a brighter future for the map in the WoW Green Creative contest, and the Run for Green challenge asks players to sprint across the map to aid conservation projects across the world. Players can also win in-game items by sharing environmental initiatives they have taken part in since the campaign launch. How do we encourage players to think critically about our relationship to the natural world through play? The answer is not simple, but we hope these activations show a starting point. Find out more about this year's #GreenGameJam and details about all participating games: https://lnkd.in/eaMCKHFi

We're taking another look at life sims and management games building a bridge between the in-game and in-person as part of the #GreenGameJam today 🦈 On the 24th September, Ubisoft's Hungry Shark World will release a new game mode in which the creatures of the deep turn against your shark, as a side effect of human waste. Plant seeds to re-stabilize the underwater ecosystem and learn about the importance of protecting our oceans. 🏝 Island Hoppers' Green Game Jam activation this year will contain a themed storyline event and an entire game season dedicated to nature with its own storyline, activities, and rewards - one of which includes a unique themed marine decor set along with the introduction of new pets and characters. The team plans to host an event dedicated to cleaning up one of the beaches on the island of Cyprus, where the headquarters of Nexters ($GDEV) studio is located. 🎣 In Fishing Clash, players collect water drops representing different actions they can take to start their environmental journey. They can share photos of them completing their action under #GreenGameJam or by messaging the team privately on Facebook for in-game rewards. Players will also complete tasks involving special fish representing different environmental problems. Ten Square Games has pledged to make a donation to an environmental organization once players collectively reach the goals set during the event. ⚽ Top Eleven players will share photos and videos of their environmental action to win in-game rewards; and if the whole community shares the Nordeus call to action enough times, the whole user base will get a special emblem and jersey to celebrate. 👩🌾 In Klondike Adventures from VIZOR, players will learn how to restore a red panda habitat in-game whilst working towards saving 200,000 square feet of panda habitat - unlocking collectible figurines, free badges, avatars, certificates and social media gifts as they go. Find out more about this year's Green Game Jam: https://lnkd.in/eaMCKHFi

Are you a game studio or publisher who wants to do more for the environment through their work? Hosted by Playing for the Planet and Ukie, this online workshop is packed with tips, tricks, and resources to help you level up your environmental impact in the games industry, with support for reducing your own emissions output while creating games that can spark players into taking action on the climate crisis. Register for your free ticket here! 👉 https://lnkd.in/eNTdm8Z5

Management and life sims are probably the genre that works best with green messaging. It's easy to bridge the imaginative gap between what we do in the game and what we do in real life There are lots of these games in this year's #GreenGameJam, so we'll look at them in two parts. 🍎 Love and Pies from Trailmix Games are tapping into the community theory that seeing other people taking action inspires us to do the same. Over 21 days, players will be able to unlock stories from fellow players and global activists alike through playing the game. They'll also access a toolkit for engaging with local climate groups and create a community garden in-game. The aim is to create a feedback loop - players are inspired by others, they carry out real-world actions, and then share to inspire others in turn 🥕 Zynga's Farmville 3 activation focuses on imperfectly shaped produce. In-game, some crops will appear misshaped, with the objective being to sell and cook them. Meanwhile they will collect photos of imperfect vegetables - incentivising players to buy products are often wasted. 🔋 Dragon Mania Legends uses the game's new AR function to help identify batteries around their home that need to be properly disposed of. This activation is accompanied by a special Battery Dragon in an in-game runner event, in which players collect and recycle improperly disposed of batteries. Players will also invited to join Gameloft in building the World Battery Recycling Map, sharing where different types of batteries can be recycled in their area to guide and educate those unsure of recycling locations. 🐔 Hay Day's characters will request vegetarian products in exchange for more coins, unlocking milestone rewards for the whole community. The Supercell community team will also share veggie recipes on socials based on foods from the game for players to cook, encouraging them to share photos on socials. We'll cover more of our management and life sims tomorrow, reflecting on the ways we can use this gameplay to prompt action in the real world. Find out more: https://lnkd.in/eaMCKHFi

Today the Green Game Jam goes LIVE! Players worldwide can now vote for their favourite activation until 4th October Check out this year's cohort and their activations in full - and we'll continue to shout out games as the week goes on. https://lnkd.in/eaMCKHFi

In our 2022 study, 81% players said they’d like to see more environmental content in their games if it’s relevant to the experience. How do we use the existing mechanics of our games to meet players where they're at? Let's take a look at some examples currently live: 🍅 In Talking Tom & Friends, a new in-game mechanic allows players to compost the trash they normally clean up as part of the game. Players are also encouraged to share photos of themselves gardening under the #ReReRe hashtag to unlock a community goal reward. 🏃♂️ The second title from OUTFIT7 in the Green Game Jam, Talking Tom Gold Run invites players to recycle the trash they already pick up as part of the runner. Players also share photos "plogging" - a practice combining jogging & litterpicking - under #ReReRe towards the community goal. ⛏ Idle Miner Tycoon will reward its community for submitting gardening photos through another in-game community-goal reward; this time a new character. Players will also get the chance to unlock previous GGJ characters built by Kolibri Games through in-game tasks. 🥕 MeshMinds are on a mission to get kids and teens to grow and eat their greens by transforming urban jungles into garden cities. September is their #UrbanFarmingMonth - combining live events and workshops with Roblox gameplay to deliver practical gardening experience for young people. We're trying to use game-play to encourage players to take action outside of the game as well as inside. Find out more about this year's #GreenGameJam here: https://lnkd.in/et9v_iZy

🌍 Exciting News, Captains ! 🧲 Get ready to dive into a greener world with Go Go Magnet! 💚 We're thrilled to announce that we're joining the 2024 Green Jam edition with the Playing for the Planet association! 🌿 What to Expect: • New events and themed contests inspired by sustainability. • Tons of rewards for your eco-friendly efforts! • A chance to make a real impact this month for a better and greener planet. Let’s create a more sustainable future together. Stay tuned! 🌍💪 #GoGoGreenJam #playingfortheplanet More information : https://lnkd.in/e5TA9fiw If you haven't downloaded Go Go Magnet (yet), you will find the way in the first comments!

Our next Member Meet & Greet is happening very soon, and we'd love to see you there! Find out more about the work of the Alliance, what it means to join, and how you can get involved by hearing directly from our members speaking from their own experiences. 💬 Bring any questions you might have (alongside a cup of your favourite beverage) for a fun and informal hour of online chit-chat! Details below, and get in touch to receive an invite. 👇