May 5th, 2011
Elf Island is a virtual world for tweens. Participants create an elf avatar to interact and chat within the world. They can purchase items, decorate their home, and play games. Elf Island has created a system of “Gaming for Good,” whereby in world actions influence real world environmental endeavors. For example, in the Hill Giant Quest, for every 1,000 virtual houses constructed, a real home is built along with Habitat for Humanity.
Thrust Interactive became the primary technology vendor for Elf Island in 2008. Thrust was able to provide advice and construction services on both the client and server systems. We constructed several of the Elf Island games, including the design and development of three Good Quests.
The purpose of the Good Quests is to provide an opportunity for players to have a real-world impact through their in-game actions. The Polar Bear Quest was designed to inspire love of polar bears and inform players about the problems facing them. Through playing the game, the player understands their own impact upon global warming.
By allowing players to make incorrect choices with regards to their CO2 output, the game demonstrates the impact a single person can have on polar bears and their habitats. The player is encouraged to shrink their CO2 output both within the game and in real life.
For a certain number of successful rescues in game, Elf Island donated money to Polar Bears International for their tracking and research endeavors.
Games