EXPERIENCE EXHILIRATION
How can a tree become an exhilarating VR experience? When it's 1,000 years old and towers 230 feet high!
Many years ago, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, a douglas fir was saved from clear cutting because of its unique attributes. The tree stands alone surrounded by a large area of clearcut forest, and hence the name “Big Lonely Doug”. This tree has become an icon for the excessive deforestation occurring globally. It was later determined that this tree, estimated to be 1,000 years old, is the second largest douglas fir in Canada, standing over 230 feet tall. In the virtual reality experience that AVARA is creating, users will be teleported to British Columbia to witness the magnificence of this tree in an adventure that has them soaring through the nearby surreal forest, Avatar Grove, and then ultimately flying around Big Lonely Doug before descending in the tree’s shadow approximately one hundred feet away.
This VR experience will showcase the capabilities of the company's Dune Engine by featuring a range of in-game challenges and exploration opportunities, such as virtually climbing the tree. Users will have the opportunity to utilize cryptocurrency for in-app purchases but can also make donations in support of reforestation and will have the ability to plant a digital and/or real tree in the clearcut area. The digital tree will be placed in the user’s desired location and then propagated to all other users whose own instances of the game will be updated to now include the new tree. The tree will be stored permanently at this location in perpetuity for all users joining the experience in the future. Initially, the tree will be in the form of a sapling, but with time it will grow at an accelerated rate eventually becoming a full grown tree, to demonstrate the impact every individual can have. This is illustrated in the image below.
Imagine, over time, hundreds if not thousands of trees filling the massive area around Big Lonely Doug, renewing the forest that once lived there.
What makes this user generated action of digitally planting trees more compelling and meaningful is that the user’s cryptocurrency transaction to create in-game content might be tied to a real world cause, where applicable, by using Ethereum smart contracts on the Blockchain. In the example provided, a digital tree may correspond to a real world tree being planted in an area of need. Ethereum will be utilized to create smart contracts that ensure the cryptocurrency donations are fully transparent with triggers built in for the transfer of tokens to the partner company planting trees when confirmation of the planting is obtained on the Blockchain itself.
Other aspects of this particular VR experience include testing your climbing skills to see how high you can ascend, mounting a plaque at the height reached, adventuring into the neighbouring Avatar Grove forest, and much more. Cryptocurrency can be utilized for an array of options to make your individual mark on the experience for everyone else to discover. This experience will also be subject to dynamically changing environments which makes it unique each time.
