As part of the technogeographies studio by @martina.muzi , I proposed an esports league and competition arena that runs on atmospheric carbon. More info below: —— In 2016, the Alipay financial services app introduced ‘Ant Forest,’ a gamified add-on that rewards “green” transactions with points, which are used to plant real trees in arid Northern China. The result is the creation of a hybrid landscape formed in the image of the app itself; a ‘techno-geography’ at odds with the ecosystem in which it is situated. This research formed the starting point for a larger investigation into the relationship between games, landscape, and infrastructure. Viewing gamification as an exploitative strategy that mines attention for profit, this project looks towards online games instead, proposing a generative interplay between gameplay and carbon reduction. Many Massively-Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) leverage pay-to-play models in which users pay a fee in exchange for game access, power-ups, or cosmetic alterations. What if players were to pay not with money, but with units of sequestered atmospheric carbon? In order to play, players must use a Carbon Backed Digital Currency (CBDC), in which each coin represents a unit of carbon removed from the atmosphere. Recent IPCC reports indicate that decarbonization through emissions reduction alone will not be enough to keep global temperature increase <2°C. Large-scale carbon sequestration is required to keep the Earth’s temperature within habitable range. Stripping back the layers of moral hysteria surrounding online gaming, one sees the emergence of a new paradigm of technologically mediated social relation. This project does not attempt to redesign the game itself, but rather the infrastructure in which the game is embedded, taking the boundary between the game and life as its site of design. Games work because they are fun; a suspension from the realities of everyday life. As such, the autonomy of the game should be preserved, redesigning instead the economic and material relations in which the game is embedded. MA GEO—DESIGN @formafantasma @designacademyeindhoven 🎶 or:la - wendy wild