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(Bloomberg) -- In the concrete jungle of a modern metropolis, a black-clad young man gears up to battle hostile cops armed with tear gas and live ammunition. Masked and helmeted, he navigates metal barricades, flaming cars and flickering neon signs, one misstep away from getting busted -- or worse.
This isn’t Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty. This is a game about Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests.
Assembled in a week by a ragtag group of students and office workers, Liberate Hong Kong is an extremely rudimentary first-person simulation of the often violent anti-China movement that’s gripped the semi-autonomous city since the summer. The game depicts the bleak experience of a front-line protester dodging swarms of projectiles from riot police, and it will launch this month in both PC and virtual reality versions, the developers said.
It’s the latest example of how Hong Kong’s internet-savvy population is using technology to mobilize a leaderless movement and spread the message internationally. Protesters have taken to Telegram to plan and execute demonstrations and broadcast their cries for self-determination in popular online video games like Activision Blizzard Inc.’s World of Warcraft. Now, they’ve gone one step further and begun to fashion their own virtual simulation of the action on the ground, hoping to target a broader millennial population while inspiring a vast gaming community that’s shown a readiness to support their cause.
Fantasy World Is Refuge to Hong Kong Protesters: Fully Charged
The developers of Liberate Hong Kong hope their simulation of the city’s democratic movement will help outsiders better understand what’s unfolding on the streets of Kowloon and Wanchai. They put the game together after Blizzard’s decision to ban esports player Ng Wai Chung, better known as Blitzchung, for staging an impromptu protest during a post-game webcast. That triggered a backlash, including calls for a boycott and demonstrations during the annual BlizzCon event starting Nov. 1 in California.
“The team can’t help thinking what will happen, and how the game industry will respond, if we are having a whole new game that is about the protests,” said a 30-year-old developer who asked to be identified only as Jane Lam because she took part in the often-illegal protests.
Last week, the developers offered a first glimpse of their game by releasing a trailer. Ng streamed himself playing it on Twitch in an hour-long session that garnered more than 14,000 views. While the gameplay is crude -- consisting mostly of dodging bullets and throwing tear gas canisters back at faceless police -- the purpose of the creators is to educate rather than entertain.