Save China’s pandas by raising a virtual one? Mobile game slammed for being too simplistic
Environmentalist points out flaws in Weibo game’s premise to help preserve nation’s pandas by planting a bamboo tree in exchange for players’ time
A game played on social media in China billed as helping to preserve the nation’s giant pandas has been criticised by an environmentalist.
The game, Panda Guardians, allows players on the social media platform Weibo to raise a “virtual panda” and after amassing a set number of points a government-backed environmental group will plant a real bamboo tree in the Qinling mountain range in Shaanxi province, an important region for China’s remaining wild pandas.
However, Diao Kunpeng, who specialises in panda conservation at the Chinese NGO Shanshui, said it was simplistic to suggest that merely planting bamboo would help ensure pandas’ survival and questioned the game’s usefulness.
Since it was launched in mid-December, its account on Weibo has gained more than 1.7 million followers, with its posts read over a million times a day.
The involvement of the Chinese pop boy band TFBoys, who have a huge following on Weibo, has also helped attract hundreds of thousands of young people to play.