Kids Help Endangered Pandas Through Online Game Play in Elf Island

July 6, 2009 - PRLog -- Play Games.  Do Good. Virtual “Mirrored Gaming” Triggers Positive, Real World Change Through Social Responsibility

ATLANTA, July 6, 2009 – Elf Island (www.elfisland.com), the virtual world where kids play games that cause good to happen in the real world, has launched its next GoodQuest challenging kids to help rescue injured pandas and their environment in the Sichuan Province of China. The effort is in partnership with Pandas International, a non-profit that raises money for veterinary equipment, medicines and food for the daily needs of captive Giant Pandas and newborns living in the Panda Centers in China.

Founded on the premise of uniting and empowering kids through storytelling, social interaction and gaming, Elf Island has created a new category in the virtual world space, called Mirrored Gaming.™ Working directly with non-profit partners, like Pandas International, Elf Island identifies projects that are emotive and relatable to kids – in this case, rescuing and nurturing injured pandas and protecting their natural habitat - and then mirroring an online GoodQuest™ game to bring the project to life.

By playing Elf Island’s GoodQuest, kids have the opportunity to learn about our real world through social involvement, cultural immersion, and educational and artistic expression.
In order to “mirror” offline to the real world, kids must meet the collective goal set by Elf Island. This creates authentic empowerment where kids ultimately determine the success from their actions.

Molly McCoy, a Denver attorney, stated, “My nine year old daughter is an animal nut. This game actually enables her to increase her knowledge about wildlife and what can be done to protect it. And, because the Giant Panda is, as she says,  ”sooooo cute and needs our help,” she’s really working the game to make sure there are happy endings. Elf Island and Pandas International both deserve a pat on the back from parents who sometimes worry about the amount of time their kids spend on the computer. I have no problem when that time means teaching her about the planet we live on and all those with whom we share it.”

How Mirrored Gaming Works
Each month Elf Island creates a new GoodQuest. This month, Elf Island is challenging kids’ to take care of pandas. The effort is a partnership with Pandas International, a non-profit that works to ensure that the highly endangered Giant Panda will continue to survive.  
- In the Virtual World of Elf Island: Players must lead a virtual panda from an earthquake-affected area to a protected Panda Center. Throughout the game Elf Islanders must determine whether they should go towards danger in order to collect food or face hunger to stay on a safer track. Elf Islanders must also nurture their panda throughout the game by resting, eating and staying clean. The better the health of the panda the more coins and cubs they’ll receive.
- In the Sichuan Province of China: Elf Island is funding the cost of adopting a panda at one of the centers in China for one year.
How Elf Island Funds Each GoodQuest
The money allocated to fund each of the GoodQuests is tied directly to the performance of the kids playing and not to profits of the company. The financial commitments to Elf Island’s non-profit partners are part of the day-to-day operating budgets and each program requires a different level of funding.  
Elf Island is Free-to-Play with a subscription upgrade. Kids of all ages are welcome to log into the community and play standard games, do basic customizations of their elf or living space and safely chat with other elves.  To get access to the many advanced features and experiences including the unique ability to unveil secret passageways and ultimately learn The Secret of Elf Island, users will need to upgrade to a membership with a subscription fee of approximately $5.95 (USD) per month; reduced rates are available with six-month and one-year memberships.
“Kids feel empowered when their online play has a real purpose and they see the benefit to the world around them through their efforts,” says Liz Kronenberger, co-founder of Elf Island. “Not only is Elf Island enabling kids to learn how to give, be good citizens, and turn their gaming actions into a real world of Good, but it also gives them the environment they want to have fun with their friends. It’s the total package.”

Since Elf Island’s launch three months ago, Elf Islanders have shown REAL results through Mirrored Gaming. Examples include:  

- Building eight homes for economically challenged families in Honduras.
- Repairing six boats used by Galapagos Island Park Wardens to protect sharks and other wildlife from poachers.
- Planting over 2,000 trees in Niger. These tree plantings not only help the environment, but also people in need. Farmers and their families will have food to eat, and a crop they can sell to earn a better living.
- Helping scientist’s track polar bear migration in the Arctic to ensure the survival of their species.
- Providing healthy produce to an under-served neighborhood in Sacramento, California.

About Elf Island
Elf Island is the first kids’ virtual world specifically created to instill positive social and environmental values into the world’s future stewards. Elf Island turns online gaming efforts into tangible offline results through non-profit partnerships and Mirrored Gaming™. Elf Island invented Gaming for Good, Mirrored Gaming and GoodQuests and is an independent children’s interactive entertainment developer that delivers entertaining game play for kids that inspires, rewards actions and builds awareness of social issues around the world. Craig and Liz Kronenberger are a dynamic husband and wife duo, parents to twin boys, and veterans in the online gaming industry that founded Elf Island in June 2007 (www.elfisland.com).

About Pandas International
The mission of Pandas International, a non-profit organization, is to ensure the preservation and propagation of the endangered Giant Panda by providing public awareness and education, research funding, habitat preservation and enhancement, and assistance to the China Conservation & Research Centers for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP).
(www.pandasinternational.org)

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About Elf Island
Elf Island is the first kids’ virtual world specifically created to instill positive social and environmental values into the world’s future stewards. Elf Island turns online gaming efforts into tangible offline results through non-profit partnerships and Mirrored Gaming™. Elf Island invented Gaming for Good, Mirrored Gaming and GoodQuests and is an independent children’s interactive entertainment developer that delivers entertaining game play for kids that inspires, rewards actions and builds awareness of social issues around the world. Craig and Liz Kronenberger are a dynamic husband and wife duo, parents to twin boys, and veterans in the online gaming industry that founded Elf Island in June 2007 (http://www.elfisland.com).