Kind Royale

The world’s first toxicity-free esports tournament that changed the way millions play.

PROBLEM
Research from anti-bullying charity Project Rockit identified that 1.5 billion gamers are bullied every day, creating ongoing mental health issues for Australian youth.

IDEA
Introducing Kind Royale, the world's first esports tournament where the winner wasn't the best player, but the kindest one.

We worked with a psychologist specialising in online bullying to identify 80 triggers of positive and toxic behaviour. Then, in partnership with Meta and Fortnite, we used these triggers to create an entirely new type of leaderboard for a live streamed tournament - rewarding players for acts of kindness like hugging, dancing and emoting with points, and penalising any negative acts like raging, bullying, or prejudice with deductions.

Then we invited 80 of Australia’s most popular streamers to the biggest gaming arena in the Southern Hemisphere to play kinder than ever before.

And to involve the millions watching live on Twitch and Facebook Gaming, we created an AI bot that monitored the chat boxes of every streamer, adding or deducting points from their total based on what was being commented.

OUTCOME
With zero media or production dollars behind it - aside from the $5k cash prize for the winner donated by Meta - Kind Royale became the ultimate demonstration of what online gaming could be. A place with no sexism. No racism. No bullying. Just one of sweet, sweet kindness. Project Rockit intends to develop ‘Kind Mode’ as a permanent playable mod, as well as make Kind Royale an annual event.
Changing the game. For good.

In response to the chronically unkind online gaming environment, Kind Royale was the world’s first esports tournament where the winner wasn't the best player, but the kindest one. We monitored the actions and interactions of 80 streamers and their audience.