Elf Island (www.elfisland.com) launched this week, the first virtual world to use gaming, storytelling and social interaction to empower kids to make a positive difference in the real world. While offering the fun online experience kids want, Elf Island is uniquely dedicated to instilling redeeming values and social responsibility, with a "mirrored gaming" concept that transforms online games into real world actions, from building houses in Honduras to protecting polar bears in the Arctic.
Leading a trend the company has coined, "Gaming for Good,"(TM) Elf Island works directly with non-profits to identify real world projects to support, and then mirrors an online GoodQuest(TM) game to bring the project to life. Kids are truly empowered to succeed by hearing, seeing and telling the stories of others.
Mirrored Gaming
On Elf Island, kids participate in virtual GoodQuests "mirroring" real world activity through partnerships with selected non-profit organizations. Elf Island's first GoodQuest, a partnership with Habitat for Humanity International, launched today as well, allowing kids to build virtual houses that mirror the construction of real homes in Honduras.
Other GoodQuests will include:
WildAid: Protecting virtual sharks helps protect real sharks in the Galapagos Islands.
Polar Bears International: Tracking virtual polar bears and polar ice caps helps protect real polar bears and their environments in the Arctic.
Plant-It 2020: Planting virtual trees helps plant real trees in Niger.
"Elf Island immerses kids in the needs of real people, animals and the Earth," said Craig Kronenberger, CEO and co-founder, Good Egg Studios, the developer of Elf Island. "On Elf Island, tweens have a fun online experience while gaining an understanding of real-world issues and can directly impact the solutions through gaming. This experience ultimately creates a sense of excitement, belonging and accomplishment that kids have never had from an online game."
To heighten the excitement and help other non-profit causes that kids are passionate about, Elf Island will continually launch GoodQuests through rolling campaigns.
"Elf Island proves that an online world for kids can be compelling, beautiful, gobs of fun and – most of all – a world for social change. I love it," said Robin Raskin, Founder of Kids@Play, technology writer.