Virtual activism is nothing new, but now that many are on 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:coronavirus lockdown, protests have moved online with many gamers taking a stand against racism in their game of choice. Adelle, a software engineer from New York, has created a memorial on 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Animal Crossing: New Horizons to George Floyd⭕, Breonna Taylor, and other victims of police violence.
Adelle says she couldn’t attend actual protests since she was livin🧸g with people considered high-risk if they contracted the coronavirus. Soon, the island she created was visited by others declaring, “No Justice, No Peace”, “Justice for Breonna” and “Defund the Police.”
She says that the sense of community moved her. Although Animal Crossing only allows eight players on an island at a time, the protest managed to raise thousands of dollars for the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Black Lives Matter movement through Twitch.
Other games like World of Warcraft, Splatoon, ToonTown, Grand Theft Auto, and NBA 2K20 have seen similar virtual protests. Meanwhile, on The Sims, Ebonix hosted a BLM rally that was attended by 200 gamers. She says the response felt lik🌃e a “turning point.”
In many ways, gamers have shown more initiative than many companies, who have limited their response to a few social media posts and donations. As an exam🐭ple, Epic Games removed police cars from Fortnite, a gesture that was mocked on Twitter as gratuitous.
Ebonix, however, says that the $1 million donation from EA was a “step in the right direction,” though she hoped that the company would continue to challenge racial injustice internally. The industry has been slow in addressing inequality. Last year, Blizzard announced that World of Warcraft, which was launched in 2004, would finally introduce an o♛ption for gamers to choose more e🌞thnically diverse characters.
Prior to the pandemic, many have used video games to protest. In 2006, a gamer published the names of soldiers who had died in Iraq on America’s Army, while in 2016, BLM protesters took to streets in The Sims. Many believe that as gaming gains mainstream acceptance with many not only playing but also viewing games on ♚Twitch, the line between the virtual and real-world will be more easilyꦗ blurred, allowing awareness to not be limited to the nightly news.
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