Elf Island Virtual World (www.ElfIsland.com) Challenges Kids to Protect Polar Bears in the ArcticElf Island this week announced its third GoodQuest, challenging kids around the world to help protect these endangered animals through a partnership with Polar Bears International (PBI), a non-profit working to protect endangered polar bears.
By: Elf Island Elf Island Virtual World (www.ElfIsland.com) Partnership with Polar Bears International Lets Kids Make a Difference in the Real World Through Gaming ATLANTA, March 5, 2009 – While winter still has a cold grip across the U.S., today in the Arctic, increasing CO2 levels are warming the oceans, melting ice vital to the survival of the world’s polar bear population. Elf Island, the virtual world that empowers kids to make a difference in the real world through online game play, this week announced its third GoodQuest, challenging kids around the world to help protect these endangered animals through a partnership with Polar Bears International (PBI), a non-profit working to protect endangered polar bears. Through a newly coined term called Mirrored Gaming, Elf Island works directly with non-profit partners like PBI to support real world projects – in this case, tracking endangered polar bears - and then mirrors an online game to bring the project to life. “Kids follow the news through TV, the Internet, at home and at school – they see the challenges that many people, animals and our environment face in our world. Our feeling is why not create an online game that is fun while at the same time triggering real world results, said Liz Kronenberger, Co-Founder, Elf Island. “Partnering with great non-profits like Polar Bears International, kids see the positive effect they are making by helping with polar bear preservation and at the same time understand why it is important to get involved.” Tracking virtual polar bears and polar ice caps helps protect real polar bears and their environments in the Arctic. Scientists with PBI use tracking collars to monitor the bears. These tracking collars allow scientists to follow polar bear hunting patterns, movements, and habitat selection without disturbing them. This information helps scientists understand what is happening to the polar bear population and alerts them if the bears are in need of help due to disease, poachers, pollution, or most commonly, climate change. In the Virtual World of Elf Island: Players are asked to design a SnowCruiser to use in the Arctic to locate Polar Bears and help lead them to their dens. Based on their cruiser design, their vehicle will emit more or less CO2. The more CO2 in the environment the faster the ice will melt around the player. To win a level, all four bears must be taken to their specific den. In the real world of the Arctic: Elf Island will donate money to cover the costs of tracking Polar Bears in the Arctic. Players will be working toward six months of tracking. As part of the company’s operational structure, Elf Island has already provided funding to jumpstart the GoodQuest. When the kids playing Elf Island meet the collective GoodQuest goal, additional funding is made by Elf Island to track the polar bears. Throughout this GoodQuest, Polar Bear International’ In addition to protecting polar bears, this GoodQuest teaches kids how they can reduce their own carbon footprints by planting trees, buying recycled materials and conserving energy. Kids also learn about the Arctic and how making smart choices in their own backyard affects the global climate. “The key to the survival of the Polar Bear is ice, without which, Polar Bears are not able to hunt or conduct many other parts of their daily lives,” says Robert W. Buchanan, president, Polar Bears International. “Elf Island is a fantastic vehicle for us to share our cause in a way that is fun to kids.” Polar Bears International is the third nonprofit to benefit from Elf Island’s Mirrored Gaming model. Future Elf Island GoodQuests are in production with other non-profits that also help people in need, as well as organizations that help with environmental and animal protection. • Plant- • Pandas International: A partnership with WildAid was just completed, with kids protecting endangered sharks in the Galapagos Island. The kids successfully met the goal, well within the 30-day period of the GoodQuest, and six patrol boats in the Galapagos will now be repaired with the help of its Elf Islanders Gaming for Good. Once the boats are repaired, Elf Island will circle back with its Islanders and show through real photos the boats the park wardens will use to stop real poachers. With parental permission, and a basic membership that is free, kids can enter and play limited offerings and chat in Elf Island. As a paid subscriber, kids can become an active participant in GoodQuests and upgrade features. Kids also have the unique ability to unveil secret passageways, communicate with hybrid-animals, participate in an economic marketplace and ultimately learn the Secret of Elf Island. Elf Island instills positive social and environmental values in a child’s life while they are having fun. More than 78% of kids ages 6-11 play video games online* and 83% of kids believe they can make a difference.** Every element of Elf Island’s game play supports individuality, self-expression and character building: • Kids have access to 2,000 variations of personalization; • Elf Island fosters healthy friendships through interaction with elves and animals. The animals give a personal response and provide tips, guidance and clues about Elf Island, ultimately leading to the secret of Elf Island. • Elf Island uses real moderators and robust dictionary chat to ensure safety is maintained and enforced at all times. About Polar Bears International (PBI) Polar Bears International (PBI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the worldwide conservation of the Polar Bear. By funding scientific research and creating educational initiatives that teach the world’s youth about the importance of environmental stewardship, PBI is able to inform, inspire, and empower people to learn about the challenges faced by these animals and help create solutions to ensure their survival. Visit PBI online at http://www.polarbearsinternational.org. 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 nonprofit 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 who founded Elf Island in June 2007(www.elfisland.com) *MediaMark Research and Intelligence, December 2007 ** Just Kids, Inc., September 2008 End
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