In a move that’ll delight both eco-conscious gamers and the planet alike, Verdant and Lucent Esports have announced they will be planting real trees dependent upon their teams’ performance in Division 2 of the Northern League of Legends Championship.
The two organizations have agreed to donate one tree per in-game kill, two per herald, three per drake, and five per baron. Likewise, the teams agreed to donate ten trees for winning. Throughout the match, the director of operations at Lucent, William Gleadall, kept the tally of trees up to date via Twitch chat.
Lucent won the match with a score of 17-4, meaning the team would need to plant 47 while Verdant would plant 37. However, both organizations chose to round their donations up to 50 trees. Fløng Esports, a Danish group that also plays in NLC Division 2, won their match against AaB esports at 31-9 and chose to donate 50 trees as well. Additionally, the head of creative at Lucent, Owen Mead, donated another 50 trees. Beyond the event, Verdant has its own page on ecologi.com, through which it has donated over 500 trees.
The Gaming Industry and Helping the Environment
Lucent and Verdant are far from the only ones helping the environment. Playtika, the developer of the mobile game, House of Fun, plans to plant up to 100,000 Western White Pines to reinvigorate the species. Players were able to gather seeds in-game through March 7th, which will contribute to Playtika’s planting of western white pines in the Nez Perce-Clearwater Nation Forest in Idaho, US.
Esports On The Rise
The esports industry continues to garner more attention and investments. NBCUniversal recently partnered with in-game ad platform Anzu to expand operations in gaming and esports. Likewise, viewing and engagement records for the F1 esports series hit a new high in 2021. Dubit recently raised $8 million for esports within the Roblox metaverse. In addition, Ignite tournaments was able to raise $10 million to develop a mobile play-to-earn esports tournament and streaming platform.
Jack Brassell is a freelance journalist and aspiring novelist. Jack is a self-proclaimed nerd with a lifelong passion for storytelling. As an author, Jack writes mostly horror and young adult fantasy. Also an avid gamer, she works as the lead news editor at Hardcore Droid. When she isn't writing or playing games, she can often be found binge-watching Parks & Rec or The Office, proudly considering herself to be a cross between Leslie Knope and Pam Beasley.
