Presentation
Video games: When Minecraft and freedom of expression become one
“Without the freedom to criticize, there can be no true praise.” Figaro’s famous line serves as a daily reminder of the fundamental importance of access to free information, the cornerstone of the stability and sustainability of any society that calls itself democratic.
Unfortunately, many countries and political regimes undermine this right, sometimes even muzzling it, in order to protect their own interests. The 2013 report by the NGO Reporters Without Borders compiled a list of “Enemies of the Internet,” citing Syria, China, Iran, Bahrain, and Vietnam as prime examples. Burma, North Korea, Cuba, Australia, Egypt, Russia, Turkey, and France were also denounced for their cyber-surveillance of individuals..
Faced with states engaged in active, even intrusive, surveillance of communication actors, or within the context of political insurrection or war, defenders of freedom of expression are constantly finding new ways to circumvent media control. Used particularly during the Arab Spring by numerous protesters, the Dark Web was quickly perceived as an indispensable tool for all actions aimed at accessing and exchanging information in a virtually untraceable manner.
Video games and esports: a medium for distributing private content
A new information transmission channel was revealed this week as an alternative bulwark for freedom of expression and information: video games. While the idea might initially seem amusing, it is actually quite clever. State censorship focuses its efforts on traditional means of public access to information: today, this primarily means the internet and traditional media. Far removed from its early forms—Pong, Space Invaders, Super Mario—video games are now a true technological marvel, combining extremely rich and varied content—text, images, sounds, videos—with all the participatory technologies of Web 3.0.
Many video games thus integrate forums and chat rooms for players, means of recording, broadcasting, and rebroadcasting content, and even the ability to integrate personal content into the game, exchange it, or even sell it.
Democratized in the 1980s by the launch of home consoles and then by mobile gaming apps and smartphones in the 2010s, video games are now ubiquitous in our society. They represent a market worth $150 billion annually, with an estimated community of 2.5 billion people—a third of the world’s population—consuming all forms of video games.
This phenomenon is currently experiencing a resurgence through esports, which can be broadly defined as a video game competition pitting at least two players or teams of players against each other in a video game, aiming for a score or a victory. Esports is experiencing considerable growth today, with thousands of players competing each year around the world across dozens of titles, attracting an audience of hundreds of thousands of people per event.
Find more information on esports in our dedicated articles:The concept of Esports
The spread of Esports
In this context, an intriguing initiative has highlighted the possibilité d’utiliser le jeu vidéo non plus comme une distraction mais comme un média de diffusion de contenus auprès de sa communauté de joueurs.
Minecraft: A virtual library hosting censored books
Minecraft is originally a video game developed by Mojang Studios that generates a randomly generated virtual world. Players explore this world, which is made up of various types of blocks. They can dig, collect, and combine blocks to craft tools and build structures. The game also allows players to write and leave messages, even entire pages, for other players.
Often described as a “virtual Lego” in its mechanics, the game has experienced considerable and constant growth since 2011, now boasting a community of over 140 million monthly players. Over the years, the game has been adapted to almost every existing platform: computers, game consoles, and later smartphones and tablets. Its content is thus virtually accessible through a wide variety of tools and devices.
The density of its community has allowed it to expand its audience through broadcasts and rebroadcasts of player experiences and other forms of streaming.
To mark World Day Against Internet Censorship, Reporters Without Borders, with the help of the creative studio BlockWork, built a virtual library after three months of work. Within the game, they virtually recreated numerous books and publications censored in the players’ countries.
Named “The Uncensored Library,” it required more than 12.5 million pixelated blocks, mobilizing 24 builders living in 16 different countries. The building was designed according to neoclassical architectural principles, with its main dome measuring over 300 meters in width. If it were real, it would be the second largest in the world.
Accessible via a server open to all Minecraft players worldwide – visit.uncensoredlibrary.com – this project illustrates the ingenuity and diversity of methods developed to circumvent censorship in certain countries and ensure the dissemination of information.
The publications of journalists “banned, imprisoned, exiled, or even killed” from five countries – Egypt, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Vietnam – are explicitly targeted and made available. The organization also assures that the library is intended to be regularly updated with new virtual works.
“They are now available again, where government surveillance technology cannot reach them: inside a video game.”
“Websites are blocked, independent newspapers are banned, and the press is controlled by the state. Young people are growing up without the opportunity to form their own opinions. Through Minecraft, the world’s most popular video game, we give them access to independent information.”
Like the internet, video games are also an infinite virtual space in perpetual construction, recently expanded by cloud computing and made more complex by the interactions of connected objects and autonomous robots. However, there is cause for concern regarding the potential instrumentalization of video games for political purposes, particularly when the publishers of the games exploited may face ethical, political, and legal repercussions.
Cross-media: The responsibility of video game publishers
The creation of a digital library designed to circumvent state regulations raises the complex question of video game publishers’ responsibility, not only with regard to the content offered but also to its use by the player, particularly when it has political implications.
Legally, a video game publisher that grants players relative creative freedom has the legal status of a hosting provider and would only be held liable if it fails to take action following notification of problematic content, especially in a political context. A video game publisher that allows players such creative freedom thus becomes a content host, just like other platforms such as YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, or any media group.
A recent example is the Blizzard case in October 2019 involving the expulsion of a Hearthstone player, published by Activision Blizzard, for having declared during a chat, after a victorious match, “Free Hong Kong, the revolution of our time.” Based on its deliberately vague terms and conditions, Blizzard banned the player for comments perfectly acceptable under the right to free speech.
This decision, likely motivated by significant Chinese financial investment in the publisher and the sheer size of the Chinese market, was nevertheless widely criticized by the gaming community, who denounced it as political interference in the video game world.
Find more information on this case in our dedicated article.
