Beijing's green gaming and CO2 in the virtual world

Green is the buzz word for technology vendors, and it is no different for game developers in China, but with a twist. According to the China CSR website, Chinese developers at the Shijingshan Science Park inside the Beijing Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park have launched a ‘green’ online game development initiative.

But instead of focusing on conserving energy, or limiting emissions, their definition of ‘green’ is to provide ‘a spirit of self-discipline, and cracking down on unhealthy online behaviour.

The report, quoting Zhou Jianshe, vice president of Capital Normal University, names violence, gambling and superstition as ‘unhealthy’ behaviour.

The concept might sound alien to readers outside China, but it is not the first time that online, virtual communities have tried to influence users to do good in some way or another.

Second Life for example have developed an application that gives its community of users carbon emission data on real life objects, such as cars. Called Carbon Goggles, the application displays the emission data of virtual objects as users wander around the virtual world.

Another interesting fact that emerged during last week’s discussion on the CO2 emission of Google and other Web services is that Second Life itself is a major emitter. Author Nicolas Carr estimates that each avatar inside Second Life consumes as much as 1,752 kWh of energy per year, or the equivalent energy consumption of someone living in Brazil. More importantly, that energy translates to 1.17 tons of CO2, equivalent to driving an SUV around 2,300 miles, according to calculation by Dave Douglas from Sun Microsystems using Carr’s estimates.

Again, those figures are simply based on the user’s PC and Second Life’s server infrastructure. It doesn’t count the network equipment for the broadband connection, the backhaul network, the switches, routers and central office infrastructure that is needed to get users into the virtual world.

When it comes to emissions, what’s virtual certainly doesn’t mean it is not there.

Related posts:

1. Visit IBM’s green data centre – in Second Life
2. Virtual office can make good business sense with planning – Gartner
3. Tandberg: virtual communications to boom in two years
4. Green practices in the real world – Rackspace Hosting’s take on energy efficiency
5. Is Bharti’s virtual MNO model a glimpse of the future?

Tags: carbon emissions, China, CO2, green telecom, Nicolas Carr, Second Life

Category: Applications, Climate change, Data centres