SteveTheGamer55 is live on YouTube. He’s streaming a session to his 4.6 million subscribers of GTA 5 RP, a Grand Theft Auto 5 mod that allows people to role-play with other players. “Really wanna show you guys some real-life scenarios,” he says, offering a little background on his character, a man headed to his job while on a work visa.
His character doesn’t get far before an SUV swings onto the sidewalk in front of him; masked ICE agents spill out of the vehicle. “Stop right there,” one of the uniformed players says. It isn’t long before SteveTheGamer55 is surrounded by agents. He hands over his ID while bystander players yell at the agents and demand his release. “Why are you harassing people?” one says, before the worker is finally let go. Later in SteveTheGamer55’s play session, he stands in front of a large iron gate reminiscent of those in ICE detention centers seen in cities like Chicago. More in-game ICE agents have gathered. He records from his phone. Just in front of him, a player in a red suit demands to see a warrant for his client.
The “special event” held on November 20, where players took on different roles that reflect real-life ICE raids, was the first initiative by New Save Collective, a baker’s dozen of gamers with backgrounds in activism and organizing, whose goal is to educate gamers and teach people about their rights when dealing with ICE in real-world situations. On November 21, at 7:30 pm ET, gamers will gather in Epic’s massively popular battle royale, Fortnite, to hold a closed scavenger hunt that will serve as a more casual educational opportunity. The group is working with several immigration advocacy groups, as well as collaborating with content creators, to spread their message online.
Games that serve as platforms are becoming popular places for kids and adults alike to gather in protest. On Roblox, players have held both pro-Palestine rallies and anti-ICE demonstrations. For New Save Collective, games like Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto offer a similarly useful place to carry out their events. “Some of the folks who play GTA roleplay are [police] officers in real life or are lawyers in real life,” says Anosh Polticoal, who also requested to only be referred to by screenname for safety.
“For a [gaming] stream that’s educating the public in a world where many people may not have seen an interaction with ICE yet, [it’s] a way to get folks to know or get used to what that might look like,” the organizer says. “What their rights are as bystanders, as citizens, as non-citizens, as folks who are documented, undocumented. It felt like a really great way to see all that play out for an audience.”
Maybe I’m old, maybe I’m just jaded… Has any kind of protest or activism in a video game lead to change outside of the game itself?
Interesting point.
Counterpoint: it’s good to get people used to doing it by practicing before they do the real thing. …also all the other reasons you see in the thread.
Creating awareness through outreach is one of the most important bits about protests. There needs to be a critical mass of people that are fed up in order to create a smaller bunch of people that will move in action.
That’s how grass roots campainging works. People with such a huge amount of followers are critical to mobilize more people. For every one person to actively join a protest many more must be reached.
I say this respectfully, but has making negative comments about people trying to do good and educate others ever improved the situation?
I think it’s easy to be jaded right now, I struggle with it myself, but remember that this kind of knee jerk criticism is very deflating for some people to read. You might feel like it’s an outlet for you, but it can cause others to feel hopeless and depressed.
I don’t believe you want that, so I would encourage you to be more supportive of attempts at change, not just results. Changing hearts and minds is a long and imperfect process.
Speaking as an activist, nothing brings my piss to a boil quicker than people essentially doing nothing and hiding behind the excuse that they were “just trying to raise awareness”. Holding a pro-Palestine candlelight vigil in Roblox, for example, whilst there are still Palestinian civilians being murdered is a woefully inadequate use of time and effort if you actually want to help.
If people read this criticism and feel hopeless or depressed, there are direct actions they can take for any cause to help which should make them feel better. It’s more difficult than changing your social media banner but doing the right thing to help is rarely, if ever, easy.
the people holding a vigil like this are probably literal children, because Roblox is a game for and overwhelmingly played by children, so i don’t understand the criticism here–it’s unlikely they can help in any material way you could as an adult, but they can be politicized into understanding who deserves their sympathy and who is perpetrating harm that must be ended, which such a rally helps affirm
Whilst children may not be able to help in the same way as adults, I believe that children absolutely can help in material ways. Children can still protest, fundraise, and engage in other forms of direct action. Children are not helpless or incapable.
you are shadowboxing with things i didn’t say and are the only person inserting the terms “helpless” or “incapable” here, but also once again: this is a game marketed at literal children. i stopped playing Roblox at 14 and doing some research i’m led to believe that would be quite old for a Roblox player. probably half or more of the player-base is 13 or younger. do you honestly expect the average 13-year-old (or younger) to be capable of anything other than performative activism relating to the genocide in Palestine?
I can understand that perspective, but I also think you’re making a lot of assumptions about whether this was effective or not. Based on your original comment you don’t know, so I’m just encouraging benefit of the doubt instead of shitting on things for not being perfect.
Maybe as an activist yourself you could get in touch with this organization in the post and suggest some more effective methods for what they’re trying to achieve? That would be practicing what you’re preaching instead of just leaving comments online. Just my 2 cents, and I wish you well.
I mostly leave comments online whilst taking breaks from things like transporting donations to local secular food banks, volunteering at an initiative for rehousing displaced Ukranian people, and my day job; your magnanimous faux concern about how I spend my free time when not making a direct difference to important causes isn’t appreciated.
How could i know what you do in your spare time? You haven’t shared it until now. I can only go off of what you’ve said on this thread, and I do not retract my criticism of it. This will be the last response, so I hope you have a good day and thank you for making a difference in the world.