France – Reporters Without Borders is turning to gaming to give a voice to censored writers from countries such as Egypt, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Expanding the NGO’s #TruthFindsAWay campaign, it has joined forces with creative agency DBB Germany and design studio BlockWorks to build a virtual library within Minecraft, dubbed a safe haven for press freedom.
With the digital world of Minecraft attracting over 145m active users each month, Reporters Without Borders hopes that The Uncensored Library – filled with books containing articles censored in their country of origin – will reach younger audiences. Within this virtual library, texts can be read by anyone on the Minecraft server, albeit hidden from government surveillance technology. More books will be added in future.
‘Young people grow up without being able to form their own opinions. By using Minecraft, the world’s most popular computer game, as a medium, we give them access to independent information,’ says Christian Mihr, executive director of Reporters Without Borders Germany.
In this way, Reporters Without Borders is demonstrating Intelligent Gaming, whereby content creators use alternative forms of media to contextualise and intellectualise gaming.