For nearly half of a year now, the people of Hong Kong have been protesting the streets in a fight against the Fugitive Offenders amendment bill. This bill would allow local law enforcement to extradite criminals wanted in territories that aren’t Hong Kong. This includes mainland China and Taiwan. The protestors of Hong Kong say that this bill would infringe on the personal and civil rights, by forcing the people of Hong Kong to abide by the legal system being enforced by mainland China. This problem doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon, and there has been a VR experience made to show people how brutal this protest is going inside Hong Kong, which believes it should be able to operate as its own country.
This virtual reality experience will put you on the front lines. This is being categorized as a protest, but this looks like a war zone more than anything. The Chinese police and riot control officers are constantly clashing with the non-violent protestors, and this is all going to be represented with the virtual experience.
The virtual reality experience is not available to the public yet, but the developers are in pursuit to get it on the biggest virtual stores. With that being said, it is rare to see these things go through. We are sure China will continue to do everything in their power to not allow this to go through, but the developers are trying hard to get the message out to as many people as possible.
“In the game, it allows you to experience what crisis the frontline protestors might have been through,” states Lam, a member of the games development team, during an interview with Reuters. “For example, getting arrested, getting hit by a bullet, and needing to stay away from the danger of tear gas canisters.”
“That does not mean you will have to go out after playing the game. We hope people that fight for freedom will go out anyway.”
Along with being inside of the protests front line and the war zone, players of this game/experience will be able to visit the “Lennon Walls”, which are locations of colorful post-it notes giving words of encouragement to protesters. This is a humbling place, and it is going to be giving the sense of realism almost as much as any of the protest simulations will.
There are also interactive experiences inside of the gaming experience that will educate users with the Yuen Long Mob Attack, the Prince Station Attack, and even the terrible shooting of the 18-year-old protester from the law enforcement. This happened on National Day of all days, sending a strong message to the protesters.
The protestors have been doing a fantastic job of spreading awareness throughout the world, and even got the attention of many sports fans across the world. While the NBA team the Houston Rockets were in China earlier this year, General Manager of the team, Daryl Morey, tweeted that we need to “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong.”
This wasn’t the smartest thing to do from a business standpoint, but it brought attention to the protest from people that usually wouldn’t get involved. The tweet has since been deleted, and an apology was issued from Morey about the contention his tweet caused between the NBA and China.
After the NBA had almost done away with the issue, LeBron James, a global icon and one of the best athletes in the world, spoke out about the protest and Morey’s tweets. He said that he believes that Morey wasn’t “educated” about the matter. This didn’t sit well with most, and made people believe James and his camp are simply in this for the money. With that being said, it matters more that he is willing to shed light on the topic. LeBron even responding to questions brings millions more people to research the matter and have the opportunity to back Hong Kong in their pursuit of freedom.
Although the developers of this virtual reality experience are still contacting online distributors trying to get their app out there, it is a real possibility that most will never get to use it or even see it. Just earlier this month, Google removed a single-player FPS that was based on the protests going on in Hong Kong right now. We know that game was much more controversial and geared towards killing and not shining light on the protest themselves, but it is still worth noting.
The Chinese population and government is a cash cow for many corporations across the world and the United States, so it is unlikely to see many businesses comment or even approve of the support of Hong Kong. We will continue to update this article and provide more if there is any news on how to access this virtual reality app. For more VR news and community updates, make sure to check back at VRGear.com.
