Activists Battle ICE Using Fortnite
â–¼ Summary
– SteveTheGamer55 livestreamed a GTA 5 RP session where his character was detained by in-game ICE agents, simulating real-life immigration enforcement scenarios.
– New Save Collective organized this event as their first initiative to educate gamers about their rights during real-world ICE encounters through role-playing.
– The group is collaborating with immigration advocacy groups and content creators to spread their message and will host a Fortnite scavenger hunt for casual education.
– Government agencies like DHS and ICE have used gaming references in their marketing, such as Halo and PokĂ©mon, to reach people with relatable content.
– New Save Collective aims to build a positive community focused on doing good, contrasting with past toxic online movements and addressing immigrant experiences.
A new wave of digital activism is emerging from within the world of online gaming, where players are leveraging popular platforms to stage immersive protests and educational events about immigration rights. Activists are creatively using games like Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto to simulate encounters with immigration authorities, providing a virtual space for people to learn about their legal rights in a relatable and engaging format.
During a recent YouTube livestream, content creator SteveTheGamer55 broadcast a role-playing session to his 4.6 million subscribers. Playing a customized version of Grand Theft Auto 5, he introduced a character navigating life on a work visa. The scenario quickly turned intense when an SUV swerved onto the sidewalk, discharging masked players portraying ICE agents. They surrounded his character, demanding identification while bystander avatars shouted protests and questioned the agents’ motives. After tense negotiations, the virtual worker was released. Later in the session, SteveTheGamer55 documented a scene outside a massive iron gate resembling those at actual detention centers, where a player dressed in a red suit, acting as an attorney, demanded to see a warrant for their client.
This carefully orchestrated event on November 20 marked the debut initiative of New Save Collective, a group of about thirteen gamers with backgrounds in activism and community organizing. Their mission focuses on using gaming environments to educate players about how to handle real-world interactions with immigration enforcement. The collective followed this with a scheduled Fortnite event on November 21, organizing a private scavenger hunt within Epic’s battle royale phenomenon to deliver educational content in a more relaxed setting. They’ve partnered with multiple immigration advocacy organizations and are collaborating with popular content creators to amplify their message across digital platforms.
Conservative and extremist groups have historically viewed online gaming communities as fertile ground for spreading their ideologies. Official entities have similarly recognized games as powerful engagement tools, the U.S. military openly discusses using gaming for recruitment, and immigration authorities have adopted comparable strategies. In October, the Department of Homeland Security’s official account posted imagery mimicking marketing for the Halo video game series. The tweet featured the phrase “Finishing this fight”, a direct reference to Halo 3’s famous tagline, superimposed over blurred images of the game’s supersoldiers with text reading “Destroy the Flood,” equating the game’s alien antagonists with immigration threats. DHS has also co-opted PokĂ©mon’s iconic “gotta catch ’em all” slogan, even sharing a video that alternated between scenes of ICE agents conducting arrests and property destruction with clips from the animated series’ opening sequence.
A department spokesperson previously explained to media outlets that DHS intends to “reach people where they are with content they can relate to,” whether through references to Halo, PokĂ©mon, or other mainstream media. However, while past gaming-related movements often promoted harassment and exclusion, New Save Collective aims to build a community grounded in kindness, authenticity and positive social impact.
“Many of our members are immigrants themselves, or come from immigrant or refugee families,” shared an organizer using the online alias PitaBreadFace, who requested anonymity for safety reasons. “Given the current political environment, we’re working to create spaces where people feel they belong while channeling that energy toward shared purposes that many are genuinely seeking.”
(Source: Wired)
