Locally-developed Facebook game promotes environmental awareness

The power unit of business conglomerate Aboitiz Corp. is taking to social media to push its environment agenda by creating a Facebook game application that is geared towards educating people about the concepts of carbon footprints and cleaner and renewable sources of energy. The game, called Alter Space, is reputedly the first Facebook game to be developed locally. It was commissioned by AboitizPower. According to Socialbakers.com, The energy provider is taking advantage of social games as there are about 56 million Facebook users playing daily and 290 million playing monthly. Up to 265 million Facebook gamers, meanwhile, spend 210 minutes playing games. Twenty-percent of these game players even pay cash for in-game benefits. In the Philippines, 54 percent of social networking site users cite gaming as the reason they log on, the company said. According to Socialbakers.com, there are over 20.8 million Filipinos —or just under 21 percent of the country's total population— on Facebook as of January 2010. In Alter Space, the game players’ mission is to take care of their own little planet. They do this by keeping their carbon footprint levels low, while still keeping their Happiness levels up. They will have to accomplish fun tasks and challenges while their carbon footprint is measured. Every choice they make affects their environment, and the game always gives feedback as to whether the player’s choice was environmentally sound or not. They can also invite friends to be their neighbors, and their over-all carbon footprint as a community will be calculated. If they fail to make the cleaner and greener choice, their virtual planet will experience disasters like Smog, which cause their avatar to lose interaction, and Heat Wave, wherein they will have to perform extra tasks or pay a fee to bring their carbon footprint down. Aside from the carbon footprint calculator, game players’ progress is also measured through their Happiness level, Current-cy, and Experience points. Mini-games, meanwhile, provide game players an interactive way with which they could learn more about the different sources of cleaner and renewable energy. Harvesting alternative energy is how they earn points in their planet — a significant function of the game that encourages players to seek out and use alternative energy. The mini-games include Solar, wherein they are tasked to catch as many sunbeams as they can; Geo, wherein they are asked to click the steam that goes out of the valves of hot spots; and Hydro, wherein they create a passageway for the water to reach turbines. Practical tips, trivia, and other features guide players along as they strive to make their virtual planet a cleaner and greener one. While addressing the bigger issues of carbon footprint reduction and environmental preservation, Alter Space employs some uniquely Filipino features in doing so. The use of pamaypay (the Philippine native fan), the playing of the game sungka, and eating what is colloquially call “dirty ice cream" are incorporated into the game for that distinct Filipino flavor. The Facebook game is scheduled to be launched on February 7, although players can take a peek by visiting www.facebook.com/AlterSpaceGame. — Newsbytes.ph