Social Game to Change the Future of America
“America 2049” players portray agents assigned by Jefferson Williams II (Garber) to capture fugitive Ken Asaba (Perrineau). As gameplay unfolds, they encounter an America splintered by race and ethnicity, hostile to women and self-expression.
It challenges people to ask: “How close are we already to “America 2049” — and how can we work together for a better future?”
Global human rights organization Breakthrough’s 12-week Facebook gaming event, “America 2049,” entered its 4th week Monday with over 11,000 players “networking for freedom.” “America 2049” — in which players explore how the choices made today will shape the nation’s future — features appearances by Harold Perrineau (LOST), Victor Garber (Alias), Cherry Jones (24), Anthony Rapp (Rent) and Margaret Cho (Notorious C.H.O.), who donated their time and talents to help Breakthrough put a face on complex issues.
[ Also Read: Wanted: Facebook Gamers for Japan Disaster Relief ]It is stated to be the first Facebook game integrating features, online clues and real-life events at leading cultural institutions.
“The game resonated with me because I love the idea of people fighting at all costs for their right to pursue the life they choose, without fear of persecution,” said Harold Perrineau. “I hope the game will inspire young people, especially, to help stop institutionalized hatred and intolerance — today.”
Similarly, Homefront, a new videogame, depicts the invasion and occupation of America by a nuclear-armed Greater Korean Republic in the year 2027. (Read: Will America be Invaded in the Year 2027?)
“‘America 2049’ is literally a game-changer,” said Breakthrough president & CEO Mallika Dutt.
“It parachutes us into an alternate reality not far from our own, where we must make critical decisions about how we want to define ourselves as a nation. While immersing us in one possible future, it inspires us to recommit to an America built on diversity and human rights.”
As players solve puzzles via videos, voice-overs, graphics, micro-sites and social media, they also encounter human rights themes including immigration, sexual orientation, trafficking, and labor.
The game is at http://www.facebook.com/America2049
Events linked to these themes will take place at leading cultural organizations nationwide (including members of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience):
- Jane Addams Hull-House Museum (Chicago, IL)
- Lower East Side Tenement Museum (New York, NY)
- United States Immigration Station, Angel Island (San Francisco, CA)
- Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (Birmingham, AL)
- Bosque Redondo Memorial (Fort Sumner, NM)
- Levine Museum of the New South (Charlotte, NC)
- Skirball Cultural Center (Los Angeles, CA)
- Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI)
- Ellis Island Immigration Museum (New York, NY)
Breakthrough (breakthrough.tv), based in the United States and India, is a global human rights organization that uses the power of media and pop culture to advance equality and justice.
It also created ICED: I Can End Deportation, a 3D social change game.
