MIAMI
A Japanese computer science student fails to take a full
load of university classes and loses his student visa. A 10th-grade Indian girl
is detained because of a high school essay she wrote on the Department of
Homeland Security.
These are two of the characters in “ICED!” a new
video game that invites players to step into the shoes of foreigners who run
afoul of the U.S.
immigration system. It is part of a burgeoning genre of video games that
examine major social and policy issues such as the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict, the situation in Darfur and the Electoral
College.
“The game allows you to get into the body of a person,
so you can experience what they are going through. There are very few
opportunities to get that perspective,” said Mallika Dutt, head of the
nonprofit Breakthrough, which produced the game and uses new media to highlight
social issues around the world.
“ICED!” a play on the acronym for the Department
of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement office is scheduled
to be available for free download next month. It differs greatly from games
like “Border Patrol,” which popped up on the Internet last year and
exhorted players to kill illegal immigrants as they entered the country.
“ICED!” seeks to show how immigration laws passed
in 1996 expanded the number of crimes that can trigger deportation and limited
immigrants’ rights to appeal.
Players try to avoid deportation by keeping a low profile
and performing community service. Shoplifting or jumping a subway turnstile
loses points. Lose too many, and your character ends up in a federal detention
facility.
