In mobile game, virtual points earned help battle real-world deforestation

California-based XEOPlay's Tilt World mobile game aims to have a beneficial effect in the battle against deforestation, with player points translating into seeds and trees to aid with reforestation efforts in Madagascar.

Much like the way social gaming company Zynga created limited-edition in-game goods to benefit its real-world Haiti Relief Fund a few years back, so California-based XEOPlay’s Tilt World mobile game strives to have a similarly beneficial effect in the battle against deforestation. Specifically, thanks to a partnership with non-profit WeForest, the points Tilt World players earn in the game help buy real seeds and trees to aid with reforestation efforts in Madagascar. Now available as a USD 0.99 download for iOS mobile devices, Tilt World is the story of Flip, a tadpole who has been “left all alone in the green Blighted ooze that was once Shady Glen,” as the game describes it. Through the game’s 15 levels, the player’s goal is to help Flip restore sunshine to Shady Glen by eating carbon from the air, planting mushrooms to detoxify the soil, recycling enough bottle caps to bottle the Blight, capturing fireflies as an alternative energy source, and ultimately solving the mystery of the green Blight. Most interesting of all, however, is that the points earned in-game contribute to a real-world campaign to plant one million trees in Madagascar with the involvement of WeForest. The video below explains the premise in visual detail: Ultimately, XEOPlay aims to tap the power of what it calls “playsourcing” to address other world problems through gaming as well. Social entrepreneurs: how could you tap the power of play to create positive change of your own?