A Video Game That Plants Seeds Instead of Bombs
In a beautiful archipelago in an pristine ocean, pirates have pillaged the natural resources of all the islands except one. Emerald Island is the the only island left in it’s natural state and the pirates have their eye on it too. Your child, with the help of his friends, must act to thwart the pirate’s efforts by planting and cultivating gardens to keep a delicate eco-system in balance.
- » See also: Grow Your Own Tree Hugger: 101 Activities to Teach Your Child How to Live Green
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This is the setting for a new online video game for ages 6-12 from Fluid Entertainment, an independent children’s softwear developer. It is free to play the game, although upgraded memberships are also avalaible. Using numerous safeguards to ensure your child’s online privacy and safety, Emerald Island gives children a chance to learn to collaborate with other children in a group effort to preserve the island’s natural resources.
In a game that starts with the creation of an original character, the player then embarks on a journey of discovery. By trading with others on the island they develop the island’s economy by selling crops and trading goods. Along the way they can earn coins with which to play numerous smaller games like collecting letter tiles to spell words that turn into wind to race their sailboats.
On the way to learning the about the environment the player will have the opportunity to learn about the more than 100 different plants available to them for cultivation. They will also develop problem-solving, reasoning, social, and computer skills. All this by growing things instead of destroying them.
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What a great game, thanks for recommending it!
Isn’t the “all video games are violent and harm children” stance a bit dated now? It’s always been the preferred stance of fear-mongers, but it’s 2009. There’s about 20 games in the Harvest Moon farming simulation series alone. Emerald Island might be a fun game worth promoting, but do you have to take such a ridiculous stance on gaming as a whole to do so?
Glenn, so glad you covered this one…it’s been in my queue to do so! I’ll add that another FABULOUS one is Elf Island.com, a virtual world where online actions translate to offline nonprofits. They call it ‘mirrored gaming’ or Gaming For Good. I’ll be writing about it here on ECP soon, just as I did with Dizzywood’s open-ended storyline model, and online to offline tree planting.
Also, Zookazoo’s Earth Day ‘water and power’ challenge is great, and I’m about to cover one called “Garden Party” too…
re: Kirk’s comment above? Was that an edited out line? I don’t see any such reference, seemed like a very balanced piece to me. I’m going to check out the farming sims too, so thanks!