Though we always hope humans will get out into the natural world and get their hands dirty – whether they garden or farm or go for a hike or walk in the park – sometimes urban-bound folks need a way to experience the great outdoors from behind a computer or gaming device. So when games like Tilt World and virtual farming systems like Farmhopping get released by green entrepreneurs for would-be naturalists, we’re happy to see them doing real good, even if they’re supported virtually by the users.

Tilt World Helps Gamers Battle Deforestation

Like other remote yet real-world games of years past, Tilt World, the mobile game, was created by green-minded programmers to give gamers the chance to help fight deforestation and climate change. The game narrative revolves around the fight against a green blight that is swallowing Shady Glen. Flip, the hero, must eat the carbon and rescue the seeds from the blight.

The game is played with simple tilts of an iPhone or iPod Touch. Players move between landscape and portrait to guide Flip toward pollution and seeds and away from the evil, toxic blight. There are 15 levels of gameplay goodness through which you must solve 3 sets of puzzles to earn enough Tilt Points to clear the blight from soil, water and air.

Winner of several awards – Best Game iPhoneDevCamp 2007, Wired Magazine’s Top 9 Hacks for the iPhone 2007, and CNET Top 10 Apps from iPhoneDevCamp 2007 – Tilt World supports WeForest, an international organization dedicated to sustainable reforestation. Players of the game fund the planting of WeForest trees in the real world!

Virtual Farmhopping Game Let’s Would-Be Farmers Benefits Endangered Species

Much like the crowd-managed farm idea of MyFarm.com, the new green entrepreneurial Farmhopping network has developed as a way for people to get involved in remote farming. This time from Bulgaria, Farmhopping lets users part-own and manage a farm using an interactive web platform.

The site brings together real life farmers with sustainable farms to share and would-be virtual farmers who want to buy farm products online. Using a game-like interface, users purchase animals and then help to decide how to milk and sheer the critters and things like that. Farmers also reward the virtual farmers for their achievements with offline privileges like free farm stays and the opportunity to receive organic produce.

Users, who pay a monthly fee, learn how to sustainably take care of the animals while receiving the satisfaction of supporting local, organic farmers.  The fees help to cover monthly expenses for the farmer and protects endangered animal species as well, which is one of the main goals of the project.