(Just some images from the past, ranging from screenshots of the very first game I made, my small game collection, to me hilariously dancing to Dance Central 2)

For most millennials like me, video games have been a huge part of my upbringing. I distinctly remember my first 'console' - an NES knock off that street vendors sold in the Philippines. I played that thing to death, so much so that it broke after one month. My mother got so angry that it took me 10 years to convince her to buy me another console. This time, it was the legendary PS2. Resident Evil 4 terrified me but it was the very first game I finished and instead of school notebook containing actual notes, it was full of GTA cheat codes.

I didn't just want to play games, I wanted to create them. I studied Computer Science with the hopes of being a game developer, but it turned out to be harder than I thought. My school's lack of a 'real' game dev curriculum didn't help either (coincidentally, Ubisoft partnered with my university 2 years after I left to offer a real game development degree. Great), so I gave up on that dream. Instead of creating games, I created startups. After going to Spain for my master's degree, I co-founded RefundMe, a tax free shopping platform that digitized the refund process. We got funded by Startupbootcamp and moved to Amsterdam where I have been based ever since.

Due to the pandemic, I pivoted RefundMe into a mobile self-checkout app called ShopMe (very creative, I know). I exited that company in June 2023 and have since had more time doing what I've 'neglected' since graduating from university - playing games. I finally got what the fuss was about with the God of War reboot and I'm still mining for Prismatic Shards in Stardew Valley. To quote a Gen Z'er, I was "healing my inner child" and it felt great!

But how does all of this lead to Midgard? As you might have already guessed, Midgard is essentially earth in a lot of video games. I started looking for work and got interviewed for a role in a venture builder focused on climate. I didn't get the job, but it got me interested in the space. As someone who have experienced climate change first hand (i.e. floods that reach my waist every year for 15 consecutive years), I know that we have to do something. We've been fighting for fictional earths for years, so why aren't we fighting for the real one?

Although the gaming industry's impact on climate is not as severe as that of traditional industries (*cough Oil & Gas cough*), it still has its impact. With the ongoing climate crisis, several experts have even said that humanity might not be able to 'afford' games in the future, and this is not the future that I want to live in. What can we do, as members of the gaming community, to not only minimize our impact in the environment but to actually spearhead the reversal of the damage we've done to our planet?

Midgard doesn't have the answer. At least not yet. But hopefully, our platform will be the start. 52% of active gamers are millennials. We're the generation that cares the most about the environment, but ironically we're also going to be the one that will experience the effects of climate change the most.

It sounds corny, but we're the generation that is destined to solve the climate crisis. And we can do that, one game at a time.

-Jerome