This article is part of our Games Industry Goes Green series, in partnership with Playing for the Planet
When the Riders Republic team attended the Green Game Jam in 2021, we had no idea it would lead to the creation of Riders Republic Rebirth, an in-game event featuring a reforestation activity and a virtual climate march – the first to ever take place in a video game.
Organized by the United Nations Environment Program Playing for the Planet Alliance, The Jam is an annual event that aims to bring creative video games together to brainstorm new ways to inspire players to take action for the planet. Each year’s Green Game Jam is themed and the 2021 event focused on preserving and restoring forests and oceans. As the Gameplay Director of Riders Republic, I knew immediately that we had a unique opportunity to bring the topic of reforestation to life in a fun, yet meaningful way for our players.
Riders Republic is an outdoor sports game developed by Ubisoft Annecy, a studio located in the heart of the French Alps. Everywhere you look in the studio you see mountains. It is a great inspiration for our team, especially since most of the developers of Riders Republic are outdoor sports and nature lovers. When developing the game, we wanted to honor this amazing landscape by reproducing several US national parks, including Yosemite and Bryce Canyon.
Creating a game that would help our players develop and nurture a passion for nature, biodiversity and the outdoors was integral to our approach from the start, so we were excited to take it a step further with Project Rebirth.
Project Rebirth is an ongoing two-week program focusing on the concept of digital reforestation. Here’s a quick rundown of everything we’ve created for the experience:
- reforestation: Players can collect and plant seeds, grow trees to create a new forest in the game (which will remain after the event ends)
- In-game Climate March: On July 30, players could gather for a virtual demonstration for the planet
- Desert Bloom: A special mass race with themes around climate change
- Rebirth Base Camp: An in-game headquarters we created especially for this event, where players can socialize and interact in new ways
- Rebirth-specific emotes: Players can use a special drum and megaphone to show their support for the march and communicate with each other
- In game banners: Players can attach banners with messages to their backpacks
- Special outfits: Those who completed the march were given an outfit that can be worn in-game even after the republic event, to express themselves, so we wanted to create outlets to facilitate that.
Why we believe video games are the best tool to protect the environment
Much of the brainstorming for the Rebirth event was completed during one of the COVID-19 lockdowns in France, so all our meetings took place online. The lockdown actually gave us the idea to focus on an in-game march because we weren’t allowed to meet in person.
We think the concept of in-game demonstrations could be a powerful tool in the future. For a younger audience, video games have already proven to facilitate communication and self-expression; Gen Z is the largest player audience in the video game industry. This makes video games an ideal platform for demonstrations on social topics, and we hope that the idea of the Climate March will spark the desire to organize more online demonstrations in the future.
Project Rebirth demonstrated the potential of video games as a platform for creating change in the real world
Video games offer the opportunity to create a collaborative and interactive means to deepen our understanding of the environment and sustainability, something no other media can do.
First, video games provide instant or almost instant gratification – we can experience the consequences of our actions or reap the rewards of our hard work in little to no time. In the Rebirth event, players can collect seeds to plant trees in the game. Not only is this a way for players to think about the importance of reforestation with their in-game actions, but it also demonstrates the positive impact that reforestation can have: the trees grown during Rebirth remain permanently in Riders Republic, and players can watch wildlife return to this area.
To take it one step further and demonstrate the actions we can take offline for the planet, the Riders Republic team has also partnered with Ecolog to plant more than 300,000 trees in the real world. We hope that participating in this event will encourage players to learn and participate more.
Video games can also have a profound emotional impact on players. Some of our in-game march player base may never have participated in a similar demonstration in real life, but the virtual event can help them experience the same emotional pull they would have away from the computer. We created this event to encourage players to realize the power of coming together as a community. It demonstrated the potential of video games as a platform for creating change in the real world that is just as powerful as coming together in the city square.
The march as an outlet for self-expression
Riders Republic is such a fast-paced, adrenaline-packed game, we had to ask ourselves how we wanted players to engage in the march: that was the biggest challenge for us. First, we wanted to create a massive social experience. We built the design and player experience of the march on our pre-existing systems and features so we could provide 64 players with a multitude of NPCs.
The march was not something with any particular purpose or activity to complete. We wanted to create an outlet where players can come together and express themselves in different ways. First, we created two Rebirth-specific emotes for players to use as they move through space: a drum and megaphone for players to show their support for the march and discover creative ways to use these tools to interact with the environment and to communicate with each other.
The in-game banners for their characters’ backpacks carried different messages, meaning players could come together and combine them to create larger messages or amplify them depending on their inspiration. We have also created special outfits for players who have completed the march, which can be worn in-game even after the event. All of these elements combined to create a sense of unity around our theme, while providing individual ways for players to show their support.
An industry united for the environment
UNEP’s Playing for the Planet Alliance is an integral part of our success, helping us develop our messaging and communicate to our players in a fun and creative way. We’ve also worked closely with internal teams at Ubisoft exploring how games can positively impact players’ lives. They have helped us every step of this adventure, from organizing the event to developing it, to giving workshops on what topics to cover.
During the concept phase, I especially appreciated the opportunity to collaborate and share feedback and ideas with other game studios during the Green Game Jam. It really showed how we as an industry are working together to fight climate change, protect the environment and make a difference. Everyone we met was very open and shared great feedback that helped improve the activation concepts.
Our team has worked hard to create several special features in the game: we modified an in-game location, created a new base camp and mass race event, and provided players with creative ways to express themselves during the Climate March. None of these efforts would be possible without the entire Riders Republic team or the constant support of the Playing for the Planet Alliance, all of our fellow members, and Ubisoft’s CSR and research teams.
Continuing our green activation journey: now what?
The march was a first step in an iterative process to provide similar in-game experiences in the future. Participating in a Climate March is a real change from the typical player experience and it was very exciting for us to explore these unknown areas. After the Climate March and Rebirth activation, we will collect feedback on the player experience and identify possible improvements for next time.
Looking ahead, we are honored to receive the Media’s Choice Award for Phoenix, our Green Game Jam activation concept for 2022, which we will be implementing in the game in the future.
The purpose of that activation is to demonstrate the devastating impact of wildfires and teach players about strategies to reduce their size and frequency. And just as we’ve seen real-life wildfires take communities around the world by surprise, this activation will appear in-game with no advance warning: players will log in to discover that the sky has an eerie glow and their character must wear a gas mask. They will have to act quickly to fight the fires and protect the Republic.
As we work to realize this ambitious new idea, I am confident that our experience with Project Rebirth and the first in-game Climate March will enable us to continue to help our community come together to act for the planet.
Do you want to join? Registration for the Green Game Jam 2023 is now open! Sign up here to join our growing community of studios and developers passionate about driving change in our industry.
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