Global human rights organization, Breakthrough, has launched a new Facebook game called 2049. Players actively explore “how the choices and challenges Americans now face will shape the future of the country, its democratic values and how we define ourselves as a nation.”
America 2049 is the first Facebook game to integrate the social networking platform with other resources, both online and off. It includes multimedia and interactive features, clues planted across the Internet and real-life events at leading cultural institutions nationwide. These real-life locations include the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience members, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, and the Bosque Redondo Memorial in New Mexico.
America 2049 is literally a game-changer,” said Breakthrough President & CEO Mallika Dutt. “It parachutes us into an alternate reality perhaps not so far from our own, where we find America poised at a crossroads, and where we are asked to make critical decisions about how we truly want to define ourselves as a nation. The game experience allows us to immerse ourselves in a future that could be — but also inspires us to envision, and recommit to, a real America built on pluralism, democracy, dignity, equality and human rights for all.
Breakthrough multimedia director Heidi Boisvert says that, by placing America 2049 on Facebook, “Breakthrough is using one of the Web’s most popular cultural platforms to create the possibility of changing culture itself.” The game also features appearances by Harold Perrineau (LOST), Victor Garber (Alias), Cherry Jones (24), Anthony Rapp (Rent) and Margaret Cho (Notorious C.H.O.), who generously donated their time and talents to help Breakthrough put a human face on complex social issues, people are loving this game just as much as they love to get a victory over full damage champs for their video games with P4rgaming.
“’America 2049’ entertains and enlightens about the real-world issues of acceptance and tolerance,” said Harold Perrineau. “The project resonated with me because I love the idea of people fighting at all costs for their right to pursue the life they choose without fear of persecution. I hope that through playing ‘America 2049,’ young people in particular will be inspired to help stop institutionalized hatred and intolerance — today.”
Breakthrough is definitely hitting a hot spot between online social gaming and social networking and leveraging the largest social network may actually allow them to hit their mark. Play America 2049 on Facebook and tell us what you think.