Tzu-Chi Foundation (Taiwan) organised the environmental education e-sport world cup, co-created by PaGamO, in partnership with BoniO, and assisted by Tzu-Chi Foundation (Singapore), which started in August 2021 and had its preliminaries in November 2021. The top 30 Singaporeans who advanced from the preliminaries competed with the top 30 players from the five other countries, including Taiwan (HQ), Malaysia, Indonesia, the United States, and Canada.
Over the last few years, events related to climate change have become more intense, visible and frequent – often increasing the awareness of the general population. Beyond awareness, the e-sport world cup offers an entertaining environment for participants to challenge their knowledge and understanding of our environment. These games can be a powerful tool to increase the impact and outcome of the learning experience.
Label for Recycling (L4R) was invited by Tzu Chi to attend and witness the World Cup finals. At this event, Label for Recycling also had the opportunity to test out the concept of a new game that would be developed specifically for the Singapore market. This game was developed with the support and insights of the Singapore Tzu Chi Environmental Mission.
The World Cup finals were held physically. In Singapore, the event took place at the Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre on the 27th of March 2022. Furthermore, an estimated 500 eventgoers across different age groups attended the event. This game demonstrated that learning can be fun, entertaining, and interactive for everyone. These events also revealed that many are willing to protect the environment and conserve our planet!
The competitors of the E-sport World Cup playing the game in Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre. Photo by Pua Poo Toong (left) and Chai Yu Leong (right) (c) Tzu Chi Singapore
Overall, 180 competitors battled against each other for the top ten. Three Singaporean players took the eighth to tenth places – Samuel Swee Jin Quan (8th), Lee Hui Sze (9th) and Hua Mei Fung (10th). The other seven winners were all from Taiwan.
The 30 finalists from Singapore taking group photo with guests in the finals (left) and preliminaries (right). Photo by Pua Poo Toong (left) and Chai Yu Leong (right). (c) Tzu Chi Singapore
The CEO of Tzu-Chi Foundation (Singapore), Low Swee Seh, gave an opening speech and expressed his excitement about holding a large-scale physical event after the pandemic. He anticipated that education on environmental protection could begin from childhood and it can be taught in a fun way to children in order to further implement into their lives. He encouraged everyone to take up the responsibility and learn to co-exist with the earth.
Let us slow down climate change so that children can grow up in a safe, healthy and clean environment.
Tzu-Chi Foundation (Singapore) CEO, Low Swee Seh giving his opening speech. (Photo by Chai Yu Leong) (c) Tzu Chi Singapore
The local event was supported by the SG Eco Fund under the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment. Tzu Chi also collaborated with three schools to promote the competition; which are United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA), Nanyang Girls’ High School, and Mee Toh School.
We always take video games as entertainment and find no educational value in them. If we can use games to attract young people to learn while playing, it would be very effective as games can make people feel particularly excited - it is a learning motivation.
During an interview, Madam Ng affirmed that combining e-sports and education can make the curriculum lively and innovative for the students. It sparks their interest to learn extracurricular knowledge that is not taught in the classrooms, and even adults could benefit from this game.
Students at one of the nine environmental education booths. Photo by Alice Toh (c) Tzu Chi Singapore
Beside the e-sports competition, there were nine environmental education booths and an e-sports mock competition zone outside the actual competition zone. One of the booths was curated by students from the Republic Polytechnic School of Technology for the Arts, together with Youth Corps Singapore.
Beyond this game, Label for Recycling (L4R) and Tzu-Chi Foundation, with the support of Zero Waste City, have been collaborating to create another educational game targeted to Singaporeans, called “Transform your HDB Town! – A Zero Waste Virtual Board Game”. This game intends to be the natural next step of the “Tzu-Chi Foundation x PaGamO Environmental Education” game by focusing on action rather than knowledge.
It is still at the development stage, but if you are interested and want to be updated once it’s out – register below.
MEET THE TEAM
Zero Waste City and Label for Recycling team (from left to right) Anushri Rathina Sabapathi, Smiley Chaudhary, George Lua, and Remi Cesaro
The Zero Waste City and Label for Recycling team Anushri Rathina Sabapathi, George Lua, Smiley Chaudhary, and Remi Cesaro presented the first draft of the game to the eventgoers. Yi Min Lo and Alith Chalsen Bacalso played a vital role behind the scenes, wherein, they really augmented the team’s collective aspirations to ideate and visualise a knowledge-based gaming concept that will nurture the community and the environment.
Anushri, George and Remi showing the game we are currently developing to the event-goers. Photo (top left) by Lim Suan Chu (c) Tzu Chi Singapore. The other photos taken by our team onsite.
Many attendees were challenged to decide on which project they would love to see implemented in their HDB town between:
- Food waste digester
- Recycling Eco Points
Remarkably, more people chose the Recycling Eco Points.
The event was a tremendous educational experience for everyone involved. Zero Waste City would like to extend our gratitude to Tzu-Chi Foundation for inviting us. We look forward to our collaboration and its success!
Tzu Chi event video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DHitCpb_Jc
Also, check out the Tzu-Chi Foundation (Singapore) article about the event: https://www.tzuchi.org.sg/en/news-and-stories/local-news/singapore-players-among-the-top-ten-in-the-environmental-education-e-sports-world-cup/