A friend from web strategy group smartMeme just sent me the link to his latest contest campaign, Quest 2 Change Real Life. As always, I have a soft spot in my heart for social change/tech efforts.

The contest is pretty simple. You take some characters in Second Life, World of Warcraft or any other game and create a video that conveys your climate crisis solutions.

This is not just a good opportunity for filmmakers, but it is the perfect opportunity for environmental justice organizations and green companies to form partnerships and gain new exposure.

EVOLVING MACHINIMA
For the last few years, agencies like Millions of Us have created campaigns in virtual worlds. In 2005-2006 it seemed every company or organization - from Intel to Budweiser - had an island in Second Life. (Budweiser Island: Ugly for the first hour and increasingly better the later it gets?)

Meanwhile, the masses were showcasing their characters by uploading screen captures to YouTube- perhaps the most popular video being the debut of the notorious Leroy Jenkins.

The next obvious iterations of this included more purposeful dance videos, user-generated fan movie trailers, spoof commericals and finally, live action spoofs of Second Life.

WHAT MAKES THIS MACHINIMA CONTEST DIFFERENT?
I once asked a game engineer why he chose to work with model cars rather than real buildings or airplanes. He answered, “It’s more fun to build in a world unconstrained by the rules and politics of the real world.”

Point taken.

A cause-related machinima contest is better than any spoof, dance video or movie trailer because instead of mimicking the world we currently live in, we can envision and build the world we actually WANT to live in. Plus it’s fun. Rather than exhibiting the doom and gloom scenarios so often portrayed in climate crisis campaigns, users can upload optimistic global solutions in the hope that viewers will take a cue in support of a better future.

The Quest 2 Change Real Life contest runs from May 1-Sept 22, 2008. For info on how you can create a film, visit their Machinima 101 site.