AboitizPower’s groundbreaking environmental Facebook game Alter Space goes online

With more than 500 million active users around the globe, what better way to spread the message of environmental awareness than through Facebook's massive and vibrant online community? This is why AboitizPower Corp., one of the country’s leading producers of cleaner and renewable energy, chose to develop its new environmentally-themed game called Alter Space specifically for Facebook.

The first-ever Filipino-made game with an environmental advocacy, AboitizPower formally launched Alter Space at a press conference held at the Le Bistro Vert restaurant in Makati City. Present at the launch were Erramon Aboitiz, President and CEO of AboitizPower, Miguel Aboitiz, AboitizPower’s SVP for Marketing & Trading, Sebastian Lacson, AbotizPower’s Chief Reputation Officer, Francene Gonzales, general manager of BBDO Proximity (AboitizPower's creative agency), James Lo, president of Indigo Entertainment and the game's developer, and Marina Mallare, Senior Associate of the Ateneo School of Government, AboitizPower's consultant for the game.

Also gracing the Alter Space launch were Alter Space game advocates Anton del Rosario of the Azkals football team and renowned international cosplayer Alodia Gosiengfiao.

 "Alter Space is the first-ever environmentally-themed Facebook application created by ingenious Filipinos for fellow Filipinos, as well as for all Facebook users in the world. It is also our chance as Filipinos to stand out globally with something that would demonstrate to the world that we are leaders in altering our lifestyle to a more sustainable one," Erramon Aboitiz announced.

The game also comes at a very opportune time as the Earth Hour is fast approaching. By playing Alter Space, the public can learn useful habits that can help them go beyond the hour when it comes to saving mother earth.

"It's really nice to be here and be part of this wonderful project. As a gamer I see this as an opportunity to speak to the youth, to tell them to be better citizens because the future of our planet is in our hands," Gosiengfiao said.

           AboitizPower: Providing energy solutions for a cleaner future

AboitizPower's Alter Space game was developed in line with the company's Cleanergy brand, an energy solution harnessed from the company’s hydroelectric and geothermal generation assets that will encourage AboitizPower consumers towards a more responsible choice. Cleanergy communicates AboitizPower’s vision to offer an energy solution that leaves a lighter impact on Earth’s climate and its limited resources, and to promote the usage of clean & renewable energy from sources that are sustainable & cleaner than fossil fuels.

 "As you all know, AboitizPower is one of country's leading advocates of sustainable and environmentally-friendly energy sources. Today, close to 42% of our generating capacity, equivalent to 1200 megawatts, is renewable. While the company takes our commitment to clean energy seriously, we at AboitizPower have also realized that we can only do so much," Aboitiz said.

Meanwhile, Miguel Aboitiz justified the use of social media as a platform for the messaging. "With millions of Facebook users across the globe, imagine the number of people we could reach with something innovative like Alter Space. Imagine the number of people who will learn about alternative means by which we could lower our carbon footprint. Alter Space is a free game that can be accessed by anyone with a Facebook account."

 "Essentially, carbon footprint is the amount of emission generated by human activities. While we cannot stop ourselves from generating our carbon footprint completely, we can all find ways to reduce this to the point where emissions no longer pose a risk to our planet. By playing Alter Space, we hope that we can apply simple practices to protect our environment from the effects of too much carbon emissions," he further explained.

                                                  Playing the game

In Alter Space, players are tasked to take care of their own planet. Players progress by adding points to their Happiness, Current-cy, and Experience levels. The challenge for them is to accomplish this while keeping their carbon footprint in check, which is how things essentially function in the real world. And being the first Philippine-made Facebook game with an environmental advocacy, Alter Space is filled with elements that are distinctly Filipino.

"As we promote environmental awareness, we are also highlighting the Filipino culture. For example, in this proudly Philippine-made game, you will find many distinctive Filipino features like sungka and 'turo-turo' foods, among others," the AboitizPower SVP for Marketing & Trading further related. He also noted that Filipinos are the number one users of Facebook in the world, with 22 million registered users.

 Endorsers Gosiengfiao and Del Rosario share the pride that goes with the game being Filipino-made. "Alter Space is something we Filipinos can be very proud of. First of all, it’s made by Filipinos. And it is just as good as other foreign-made games,” Gosiengfiao said.

“It’s also very addictive, fun and challenging. Plus, it has the things that users have enjoyed doing with other widely popular online games,” she added.

 “I’m glad that a company like AboitizPower has found a way to communicate this kind of message to the public. This is the Filipinos' contribution to the environmental consciousness that’s spreading throughout the globe,” Del Rosario said.

At the launch, AboitizPower invited the members of the press to try out Alter Space for themselves. The company held a contest to see which participant can level up first in the game. An iPod Touch was handed out to the eventual winner, Stephanie Esguerra who writes for Smartparenting.com.ph.

Meanwhile, the game is earning accolades from various users. Melai Tolentino said “Tried this game. Let's support our very own FB game and let's help increase environmental awareness, the "First Filipino Environmental Awareness Facebook Game."

Others laud the fact that they learn from it.

May Espina said, “Ingenious nga ang larong ito! Education naman talaga ang purpose nito at walang ibang paraan para ituro sa mga tao kung paano ibaba ang carbon footprint kung hindi sa  media o social media. Ang importante ay yung long-term impact nito. Minsan mong laruin at habang buhay mo nang alam kung paano gawin ang mga naituturo nito.”

"We firmly believe that the power of choice is yours, the consumers, and know that the general public plays the most important and most powerful role in saving our environment. More than providing a fast and fulfilling game experience, Alter Space is an innovative, powerful, and fun tool for teaching the public, for teaching our children, about specific practices, specific choices, we all can apply in our daily lives to protect our environment," Erramon Aboitiz stressed.  

"We hope that you would support this project and all the other efforts toward environmental awareness. And let us always remember that the future of our planet is our choice, not our fate," he concluded.

To get started, one may go to http://www.facebook.com/AlterSpaceGame then click on the "Like" and "App" buttons to access the game.

AboitizPower is the holding company for the Aboitiz Group’s investments in power generation, distribution, retail and power services.  It is a major producer of Cleanergy, its brand for clean and renewable energy, in the Philippines with several hydroelectric and geothermal assets in its generation portfolio and also has non-renewable power plants located across the country. The company owns distribution utilities that operate in high-growth areas in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. (For more details, please visit: www.abotizpower.com and www.cleanergy.com.ph.