This the second of three in the series for games that can make the world better. The first post can be viewed here – http://en.technode.com/2011/04/08/gaming-can-make-a-better-world-part/
In the first post I talked about Jane McGonignal, the creator of Superstruct and the World Without Oil both have significant influence and benefits to the world we’re living in today.
Today, the spotlight goes to EcoTopia, created by Talkie.tv, a Facebook game that aims to make people feel good about doing societal good. The game is backed by our own Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Conservation International and it’s just launched into private beta mode last week. The game start with a run-down and polluted city and your mission is to rebuild it by turning every bit of wrong into good (e.g turning a coal power plant into a wind farm). Founder, Swain, said in an interview that this game has a lot more story than a typical social game but it’s not as deep and involved as a game like SimCity.
With the success of Farmville and Cityville, EcoTopia hopes to be the next generation of social game that ties in-game rewards to the real world. With people increasingly spending more time in front of their computers and less on media, EcoTopia will attempt to stream real-world concerning media (from Conservation International) to in-game player and ask for opinion and solution. Similar in concept as Super Struct and The World without Oil, I believe this form of crowd sourcing or wisdom of the crowd will lead us back to caring more for our community, our country and ultimately, our world. Guys at Ecotopia, I’m wide open for an private beta invitation.
Ecotopia has angel investors from Los Angeles and Hong Kong but it has not identified them or disclosed the amount raised. Its chairman is Larry Bond, who is chairman of the privately held investment firm Bond Companies, which has more than $2 billion in projects. The team so far is 35 developers.
