Over two billion people play video games but almost none are about nature or wildlife. Why are we not exploiting the immense potential games have for connecting people with wildlife? Internet of Elephants, a Kenyan-based enterprise, is aiming to do just that with its first full commercial game, Wildeverse: a mobile, location-based, augmented-reality game that allows players to become a scientist studying apes in Borneo and Congo, while exploring green spaces in their own cities.

In this interactive session, we will play Wildeverse and explore new approaches to delivering conservation messages and engaging wider audiences through game play. Key to our approach is the delivery of accurate information – the game portrays real animals and relies on real data – while acknowledging the anxieties and conflicting feelings around conservation issues. Playing Wildeverse will involve being outside and moving, after which participants can discuss their thoughts on tracking orangutans and gibbons in Oxford. By Rafael Mares from Internet of Elephants.