Video Games are a new Frontier in Digital Rights
Article content By Avi Asher-Schapiro
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation), July 30, 2018 Video games are now an "new political platform" as critical digital rights fights over privacy and anonymity are being battled, experts and insiders said on Thursday.
Video games are emerging as a brand new frontier in digital rights.
With the industry expected to double its revenue per year to $300 billion by 2025. Questions about how video game designers, operators and governments tackle sensitive issues take on added urgency, said participants at RightsCon the virtual digital rights conference.
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Article content A Hong Kong activist protested Beijing's rule in a well-known social simulator game called Animal Crossing. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (a congresswoman) also participated in the game.
The game Minecraft has been utilized to circumvent censorship with groups using it to create digital libraries and to transport banned texts into countries that are oppressive.
"Video games have become a new political arena," said Micaela Mantegna who is the founder of GeekyLegal GeekyLegal, an Argentinian group that focuses on tech policy.
Game designers are also renowned for creating games that address sensitive topics, such as mental illness or refugees.
"Video games are a powerful method to begin conversations about topics that are hard to talk about in real life," said Stephanie Zucarelli who is a board member of Women in Games Argentina, which is a non-profit organization.
Article content User rights could be violated according to Kurt Opsah (an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation), a digital rights group.
Law enforcement agencies can request from game companies for their personal information about users, operating companies can restrict game players and governments can force game operators and makers to take down the content, he said.
He shared an example of how the U.S. military removed critical comments posted on Twitch's recruitment channels.
"They didn't want people to be anti-military on their recruiting channel," he said.
Governments can apply pressure on video game companies, he added like the case of Activision Blizzard Entertainment that last year removed one player from a video game contest for making political comments regarding Hong Kong in an interview.
Tencent Holdings, a Chinese gaming giant, has a stake in Blizzard.
(Reporting by Avi Asher-Schapiro. Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst. Thomson Reuters Foundation, Thomson Reuters charity arm is to be credited. It examines the lives and struggles of people across the globe who are unable to live their lives free or with dignity. Visit http://news.trust.org)