Activists are using “Fortnite” to fight ICE
SteveTheGamer55 is live streaming On YouTube, he is broadcasting a session to his 4.6 million subscribers GTA 5 RPone Grand Theft Auto 5 A mod that allows people to role play with other players. “I really want to show you guys some real-life scenarios,” he says.
His character doesn’t get very far before an SUV swings down the sidewalk in front of him. Masked ICE agents exit the vehicle. “Stand right there,” says one of the uniformed players. It doesn’t take long for SteveTheGamer55 to be surrounded by agents. He hands over his ID as the onlookers yell at the officers and demand his release. “Why do you bother people?” One says, before the worker is finally released. Later in SteveTheGamer55’s game session, he stands in front of a large iron gate reminiscent of those seen in ICE detention centers in cities like Chicago. More ICE agents have been added to the game. He records from his phone. Right in front of him, a player in a red suit demands to see a verdict for his client.
The November 20th “Special Event,” where players took on different roles representing real-life ICE raids, was the first initiative of the New Save Collective, a baker’s dozen of veteran gamers and organizers, that aims to educate gamers and educate them about their rights when facing ICE in real-world situations. On November 21st at 7:30pm ET, gamers will gather for Epic’s wildly popular battle royale. Fortniteto hold a closed scavenger hunt that serves as a regular educational opportunity. The group works with several immigration advocacy groups as well as with content producers to spread its message online.
Online gaming spaces have long been drawn to the right as a place to promote conservative or even extremist ideologies. The US military has been open about its efforts to use games as a recruiting tool, and immigration officials are no different. In October, the Department of Homeland Security posted a visual marketing image for it halo series “Ending this fight,” the agency’s official Twitter account tweeted — a reference to Halo 3‘s- tagline next to an image with the text “destroy the flood” slapped over a blurry image of the game’s super soldiers. There are floods haloAlien antagonists of DHS are also eliminated pokemonThe “gotta catch ’em all” chant goes so far as to release a video of ICE agents destroying property and arresting people, interspersed with the show’s opening.
A spokesperson previously told The Hill that DHS will “reach out to the people who are there with content they can relate to and understand. halopokemon particle for direct object lord of the ringsor any other media.” But where movements like Gamergate focus on harassment, hate, and exclusion, the New Save Collective aims to create a community that is kind, authentic, and oriented toward doing good.
“Most of us are immigrants, or children of immigrants, or children of refugees,” says one organizer who uses PitaBreadFace online. (The organizer asked WIRED not to use his name due to safety concerns.) “We’re here at this point in the political space to have a little bit of belonging, but also to move people toward a common goal that everyone seems to be hungry for.”
