Want to pique the interest of thousands of young people while also promoting awareness about the climate crisis? Then consult with the video game industry!
As per the UN report, environment-focused video games could be the next move in promoting environmental and climate awareness. Approximately 2.6 billion people, or one in every three people worldwide, play online games. And the sector produces more than $140 billion (€116 billion) in annual revenue, which is technically more than Bollywood, Hollywood, and music sales combined.
The study outlines the gaming industry’s grasp, inventiveness, and problem-solving ideology as an untapped resource for encouraging engagement in environmental issues. In 2020, when countless people were bound to their living rooms, over 110 million gamers supported green initiatives such as tree planting through activation functions in games such as Angry Birds and Subway Surfers, endorsed through Google Play Store.
In addition, Sony Interactive Entertainment outperformed its performance requirements by releasing the Play Station 5 with low-power consumption configurations. Multimedia and mobile games are becoming an integral part of our daily existence. PUBG MOBILE, as one of the global blockbusters, serves not only as a game but also as a hot spot that binds players from all over the planet and, as a trademark, incentivizes players to make the best of things.
Table of Contents
PUBG for climate and the planet
The planet is as essential to PUBG MOBILE as their gamers. And if you are wondering how exactly did PUBG players sitting comfortably on their couches helped save the Amazon and address climate disasters in improvised communities, here’s a quick peek!
#FIGHT4THEAMAZON
PUBG MOBILE, one of the most favored mobile games with over 700 million active players, sought to use the strength of its congregation for good to increase brand awareness and make a positive distinction in the natural world.
The company influenced its enthusiasts to generate funds and consciousness for one of the most prominent environmental issues of our time, the restoration of the Amazon Rainforest, recognizing that Gen Z and Millennials feel strongly about the climate.
PUBG MOBILE collaborated with the creative company Trueheart to develop and deliver a massive social impact fundraising campaign for Amazon’s restoration. Global Green, a world-renowned non-profit, was the recipient of PUBG MOBILE’s #Fight4TheAmazon campaign in assistance of their two-pronged strategy to have their squad on the forest floor in Brazil, helping extinguish the flames and recruit local indigenous producers to plant better and healthier seedlings to battle land clearing.
PUBG MOBILE collaborated with Omaze, the world’s top online fundraising platform, to collect donations for Global Green by distributing a Tesla Model S and $20,000 in cash for the winner. The company debuted its #Fight4TheAmazon impact film at The Game Awards, announcing that Global Green would be able to plant 150,000 trees in the Amazon.
Through social media engagement, celebrity endorsements, game advertising, and worldwide media exposure, the campaign received over 2.5 billion sentiments and $33 million in media exposure. The #Fight4TheAmazon campaign created a halo effect for PUBG MOBILE, positioning it as a spot where enthusiasts can entertain, engage, and band together to protect the earth.
#FIGHT4THEPLANET
In 2020 PUBG MOBILE joined forces with Global Green and multi-platinum performer, movie star, entertainer, and humanitarian Jason Derulo for the #FIGHT4THEPLANET campaign to combat climate change. PUBG MOBILE pledged a $100,000 campaign contribution to Global Green, which helped restore disadvantaged populations and ecosystems around the planet by providing renewable energy, safe drinking water, and climate rescue centers after a climate change tragedy.
The Karakin Oasis
PUBG Mobile revealed a limited-time in-game occasion to commemorate Earth Day 2021, in conjunction with the release of its unique Karakin map. The Karakin Oasis welcomes all PUBG Mobile gamers to accumulate exclusive blueprints for in-game green power facilities.
The Karakin Oasis is one of the popular initiatives orchestrated by PUBG Mobile to promote awareness for environmental protection, following the #FIGHT4THEPLANET and #FIGHT4THEAMAZON campaigns. The Karakin Oasis event aims to raise public consciousness and energize the PUBG Mobile congregation. On the Karakin Oasis event page, gamers can accumulate blueprints to install and maintain green power facilities by accomplishing in-game hurdles.
The battle royale’s Miramar map
To further enhance climate consciousness, PUBG MOBILE added an in-game sandstorm to the battle royale’s Miramar map, along with in-game notifications emphasizing the need to ‘protect this planet’ and ‘More Green More Oxygen.’
Gamers had difficulty vying for Chicken Dinners, given the limited visibility and buggy route planning. At the final moment of the event’s official 24-hour live webcast, PUBG Mobile left the gamers with a reworked map and a clear message focusing on environmental protection. The statement ‘More Green, More Oxygen’ appeared in some regions of the updated Miramar map.
And there are more climate-centered games to watch out for!
Because the younger generation is more potential to be gamers, real scenario-based games could be an effective way to raise climate change sensitivity and foster a more positive outlook toward nature within the demographic.
Very few video games fixate on the foundations of the carbon cycle, which are firmly attributable to climate change. Below are a few games like PUBG promoting climate change awareness among a larger community.
Beyond Blue
Beyond Blue’s creators hoped to spark enthusiasts to worry about the seafloor by allowing them to explore its marvels virtually.
In the game, Mirai, a diver and a scientist hopes to uncover the shallow Western Pacific mysteries while wearing an innovative swimsuit that allows her to breathe underwater for hours. Mirai is the animatronic central character of Beyond Blue, a relatively close ocean expedition video game.
The game is prompted by the BBC Blue Planet II nature documentary and uses shots from the British broadcasting company. It is intended to make fans care about the oceanic world. Mirai and the depths she explores are premised on knowledge and insight from three real-life experts in marine biology, oceanography, and ocean exploration. Alan Gershenfeld, the co-founder of E-Line Media, the US game publisher and developer of Beyond Blue wished to establish a powerful hero with whom players could relate.
Change Game
Change Game, a videogame funded by EIT Climate-KIC and tailored by the CMCC Foundation, an Italian climate change research center, addresses the intricacies of climate change and how it interrelates with the environment and natural biosphere. Gamers are given control of the world and their fate as soon as they log in to Change Game. They must determine how to use reserves to progress their civilization while also dealing with the aftermath of their choices.
They can fund research, schooling, and amusement. Still, PUBG must consider their community’s health, contentment, and economic success because accurate climate data and academic research inspire all game circumstances. The more significant the proportion of emissions generated by gamers, the greater the obstacles they will encounter.
Their towns may then face bushfires, dry spells, river flooding, sea-level rise, and the diffusion of new pathogens, just as they do in the physical world. Whether positive or negative, every behavior impacts the earth, and the climate change issue controls everything.
Space Ape
As bushfires raged across Australia in December 2019, Space Ape game players contacted the company to see what they could do to lend a hand. The London-based company quickly implemented an in-game investment in a few of its mobile titles, with all funds raised benefiting wildlife or humanitarian charity deployed in the region. The company raised a staggering $120,000 within only four days.
The Controversy
Regardless of all these benefits, gaming causes climate and environmental challenges, whether as e-waste or a contributor to a nation’s carbon emissions. It is tough to estimate how much energy players use because it varies depending on how frequently they interact, their operating systems, and how thermally efficient their gadgets seem.
For instance, the University of California’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discovered in 2012 that players using personal computers absorbed approximately 75 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity worldwide. Studies found that players with a high-end desktop computer and external display used up to 1250 kilowatt-hours per year.
In terms of the planet’s garbage problem, gaming handsets attributed to the 4.7 million tons of e-waste yielded by Small IT merchandise in 2019, including cellphones and individual contributors, or about 9% of total e-waste produced globally.
To Wrap Up
Enjoying video games is a pastime for certain folks and a source of income for others. The gaming sector’s fast expansion has urged the design and implementation of more playing to meet the desires and concerns of gamers. The same need extends beyond the desire for amusement, merely encompassing the necessities of learning, coaching, raising awareness, and various other rational issues such as climate change and global warming.
Many games are not intended to be solely entertaining but rather allow the player to learn through encounters while hoping to achieve targets other than cheerfulness. Gaming for the planet has fostered a culture of teamwork instead of competition. Environmental concerns are already a key trend in video games, from PUBG to Minecraft Climate City. But the question is, can the gaming sector convey a more green and sustainable idea?
(Last Updated on May 24, 2022 by Sadrish Dabadi)
