A game that got my heart-rate up in the first minute (and I'm not THAT old).
The title to this post suggests that I want to make light of the subject of this free online educational game that was developed in 2007 already, by the Stockholm Office of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). That is really not the case!
In fact, the reason my heart-rate went up when I started playing this reality game (with relatively simple graphics and still a few blips with keyboard controls) is the political and humanitarian urgency of its underlying narrative: you are in the shoes of a refugee and the first 60 seconds you play, you are forced to pack your bag very quickly but cleverly, because the life-threatening authorities are coming up the stairs in your block of flats to get you and you only have seconds to escape on to the street. You haven't done anything wrong, you are just in the wrong country (your home-country!) at the wrong time, under the wrong regime.
M y heart-rate went up because I could suddenly feel the pressure to make a decision upon which would depend my survival. I ended up grabbing a torch, my passport, money and mobile phone - then I jumped out of the window within the last seconds, leaving behind laptop, my pet bunny, personal documents, photos and letters, clothes, favourite shoes and...my whole life.
I also found this rather gripping because I played it in my native language, German. Thus, the orders are more immersive, and it literally feels 'close to home'. Here is the link to the German version:
The game, however, is available in 11 languages, among them English, Spanish and, apparently, French, although the link for French doesn't take you to the game directly. An Italian version, sadly, is not featured. My guess is, since this is paid for in donations, a translation had just not been commissioned yet.
Put yourselves in the shoes of refugees for half an hour - and come out of the experience with an appreciation of your own situation ... or, at least, a different perspective on freedom and life.
