Freedom! (Digital Game)

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Freedom main screen.png

Freedom! was published by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC). The game was intended to meet educational purposes. The gameplay was like the Oregon Trail which using questions and answers to increase stat and gain information. The player plays a role as a slave in the Antebellum Period in America who is escaping to the north by going through underground railroad. The game was designed from a real event in that era and helped by African-American consultant. It was the first game that brings slavery into the setting. To serve educational purposes, the game was part of school curriculum. In 1992, when the game was released, there was controversy among the parents who complained about the racial offensive setting in the gameplay. They threatened to sue MECC and demanded to make changes. Then, the company had to pull the game from the market. [1] The player can select male or female character to play. There are attributes such as literacy, and swimming that will be increased as the game progresses. At literate stat, player will unlock the ability to read sign symbols and notes in the game. Literacy affects the further accessable option. Freedom! was set on Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. It is the first to use open world simulation of the real world. Players can travel using stars, moss, or compass. They will meet obstacles and random events such as encountering slavecathcer, dogs, and some underground raildroad npc who provides food and shelters.

Critics

Since the release in the late 1992, Freedom! received a lot of controversial statements about the game content. The game sets a black American-African as the protagonist who tried to escape slavery. Stereotype was the major issue that made the controversy of the game. A lot of protest was conducted to question the association between being black and slavery. As an educational game, the game was meant to be played with the teacher’s guidance. However, since the nature of classroom is difficult to control, students access the game without the prior knowledge about racial biases [2] The manual warned about the avoiding perpetuating racial issues. However, the game was mostly played by students without any curriculum guidance by the school [3]. A school at a Merrilville, several African-Americans parents at Indiana elementary school objected the game and made a demand to pull the software. Similarly, the other school association started the demand to pull the game throughout the United State. Later on, MECC met Merrilville’s parents to fix the issue in the game. MECC critisized for “Nintendoized” slavery. They claimed uttered that slavery was not a game for education. In 1993, MECC, as the publisher of the game, decided to pull all the copies of Freedom! They also instructed schools to not use the software and destroy the remaining copies.

References

  1. Freedom! (Video Game). Wikipedia. Retrieve on Jan 27, 2021
  2. Whitaker, Robert. The Oregon Trail Studio Made a Game about Slavery. Then Parents saw it. Retrieved on Jan 27, 2021
  3. West, Peter. Reaction to Software on Slavery Raises Issues Surrounding New Type of Media. Educational Week. Retrieved on Jan 27, 2021