Every year since its release in 2015, the First World War multiplayer FPS Verdun has held an in-game event to celebrate the famed Christmas truce of 1914, when British and German troops halted hostilities at various points along the Western Front and gathered together to exchange food and gifts, swap prisoners, bury their dead, and even play a little football. On December 20, it will return again, giving players the ability to take part in snowball fights and soccer matches, send Christmas cards, and for the first time, plant a tree for charity.
It was the arrival of Christmas trees on the German side of the lines that precipitated the truce, so the story goes, and this year's truce in Verdun will pay tribute to that by letting players plant their own trees in the game. Developer M2H has also pledged to donate 2500 real-world trees via Trees for All, a Dutch charity that works to combat deforestation by planting trees around the world. The trees will be planted in the fall of 2019, in the Netherlands and Uganda.
The studio is hoping that players will match its efforts by planting at least 2500 trees in the game "as a show of solidarity to our planet and to help raise awareness for this cause." Those who plant a tree among the trenches will have their name carved into the "Tree log," and will also receive the 2018 Christmas Truce medal.
M2H rolled out a free expansion to Verdun last week that adds a new map, weapons, a new 64-player game mode, and the Tirailleurs Sénégalese. Read all about it here.