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There's a controversial new computer game where people take the role of illegal immigrants. It's called "Iced" and its growing popularity is at the heart of the immigration debate. The goal of the game is to run away from Federal agents before being thrown in prison and beaten.  iced game
In the game, the player chooses one of five immigrant teens, each of a different ethnicity and immigration status, and walks through their shoes -- learning "how immigration laws deny due process and violate human rights to all immigrants." A collaboration between Breakthrough, community-based organizations and NYC teachers and students, the game can be downloaded for free and works with both PCs and Macs. The characters you can play as were all based on real-life situations, including a Mexican high school graduate whose family overstayed its visa, and a10th-grade Indian girl detained because of a high school essay she wrote on the Department of Homeland Security. The game's first level has you living in a city reminiscent of New York; in the second you navigate an immigration detention center. The question I have, though, is whether or not ICED, or games like it, really achieve their goal of increasing awareness of their particular pet issue. They get a bit of play in the press, sure, but do they actually help solve anything? Co-founder Chris Simcox said, "Right now we have over 600,000 people who have entered this country legally through visas and have disappeared through the shadows. So our government has failed the American people on so many levels. That's why we're taking a no compromise stance." Games like these are a new wave in programming; free educational games designed to raise awareness on social issues.
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