A scene from Animal Crossing. A masked female protester stands in front of a banner with the slogan 'Liberate Hong Kong, Revolutions of our times'. The protester has an eye patch that references the first-aider who was shot in the eye by police during a protest in August 2019. The colourful post-its on her clothes reference Hong Kong's Lennon Wall.
A scene from Animal Crossing. A masked female protester stands in front of a banner with the slogan ‘Liberate Hong Kong, Revolutions of our times’. The protester has an eye patch that references the first-aider who was shot in the eye by police during a protest in August 2019. The colourful post-its on her clothes reference Hong Kong’s Lennon Wall.
Burning torches and a protest banner, that reads 'Free Hong Kong, Revolution Now', on a beach in Animal Crossing. Gamers are free to whack the portrait of Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of Hong Kong on the beach. There are 5 characters in the background cheering for another character who is destroying a portrait of Lam. On the left, here is also a small painting on an easel with the image of a piggy (one of the mascots of Hong Kong protest).
Burning torches and a protest banner on a beach in Animal Crossing. Gamers are free to whack the portrait of Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of Hong Kong on the beach.

Gaming activism is not new. It started as early as 2004 when video games broke into the world of politics, advocacy, and activism. In April 2020, Hong Kong protesters began to shift their protest actions to the virtual world of Animal Crossing because of the restriction of public gatherings in the name of health security. The game was used by Hong Kong activists to spread pro-democracy messages, and consequently it was removed from sale on websites in China.

In July/August, protesters in the US also started to voice out in Animal Crossing and other video games such as World of Warcraft, Splatoon, ToonTown, Grand Theft Auto, and NBA 2K20. In The Sims, a BLM rally hosted by Ebonix (as her avatar is known) was attended by at least 200 players. (from The Guardian)

A screenshot from a Black Lives Matter Animal Crossing rally with 2 black-clad protesters wearing BLM caps and t-shirts.
A screenshot from a Black Lives Matter Animal Crossing rally. https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/aug/07/black-lives-matter-meets-animal-crossing-how-protesters-take-their-activism-into-video-games
A scene from Animal Crossing where protestors sit and chant for Black Lives Matter. 7 characters are sitting in a backyard with a sign at the entrance that says Black Lives Matter. Photos of George Floyd and other victims are one the ground with small bouquets of flowers. There are 2 speech bubbles, one says 'BLM!', the other 'No justice, no peace!'.
A scene from Animal Crossing where protestors sit and chant for Black Lives Matter. With photos of George Floyd and other victims. https://www.businessinsider.com/animal-crossing-users-are-having-virtual-black-lives-matter-protests-2020-6

< Back

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Join our mailing list

Click here to subscribe for news about Vital Capacities

Follow us