In context: New Save Collective's gaming campaign is grounded in both personal experience and empirical research tracking anti-immigrant disinformation in online spaces. The team's decision to use games is deliberate, informed by their data-driven understanding of how these platforms shape narratives and public sentiment around immigration issues. Looking ahead, organizers plan to deepen their involvement in digital activism, leveraging virtual worlds as spaces for civic engagement and education.

A new wave of digital activism is emerging inside the world's most popular video games. In a recent demonstration, the New Save Collective – a team of 13 activists and organizers from diverse immigrant backgrounds – used the role-play mod for Grand Theft Auto V to simulate real-life immigration enforcement scenarios, aiming to educate gamers on asserting their rights during encounters with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

SteveTheGamer55, who has over 4.6 million YouTube subscribers, streamed the session live to an international audience. Viewers watched as he navigated his character, an immigrant worker on a visa, through surprise ICE raids carried out by players role-playing as agents.

In one scenario, his character was confronted, interrogated, and surrounded before ultimately being released, while bystanders – also controlled by players – challenged the agents and demanded accountability. The session included staged scenes near virtual gates designed to resemble real-world detention centers.

The initiative represents the New Save Collective's first major outing. The group has partnered with immigration advocacy organizations and gaming content creators with the goal of transforming games into platforms for public education, reaching audiences who might otherwise remain untouched by traditional activism.

Building on their momentum, the Collective organized a closed scavenger hunt event in Fortnite, inviting players from across the country to participate in interactive lessons about immigrant rights and digital community building. Future events are planned across multiple gaming environments.

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For years, authorities and political groups have used online gaming spaces for messaging, recruitment, and even spreading ideology. The US military has publicized its recruitment campaigns within games, and the Department of Homeland Security recently embraced gaming culture in its social media outreach.

DHS issued posts referencing the iconic Halo series with slogans like "Destroy the Flood," alongside content emulating Pokémon's "Gotta catch 'em all" catchphrase, paired with footage of ICE operations. In response to criticism, DHS stated that its game-inspired messaging is designed to reach people "where they are," whether through Halo, Pokémon, or other popular media.

New Save Collective fundamentally rejects the use of gaming platforms to promote harassment or exclusion – a trend that has long plagued online communities, particularly since the Gamergate controversy. Instead, the group focuses on building relationships and empowering individuals through digital organizing. Most members are themselves immigrants or descendants of refugees, driving a mission centered on belonging and shared purpose, organizer PitaBreadFace explained to Wired.

The evolving demographics of the gaming landscape reveal that progressive institutions have been slower to establish a presence compared to right-leaning or more toxic factions. New Save Collective seeks to close that gap by leveraging gaming's social features to unite communities and foster meaningful discourse.

In interviews with Wired, organizers described how role-play events in GTA and scavenger hunts in Fortnite provide practical opportunities for participants – many of whom may never have witnessed ICE-related encounters – to experience such scenarios firsthand and learn about their rights as citizens, bystanders, and immigrants.

Such events are not isolated. Other games, including Roblox, have hosted rallies and protests, with young players gathering for causes such as pro-Palestinian solidarity and anti-ICE demonstrations. New Save Collective sees similar potential in the vast social networks of GTA and Fortnite, where some role-playing participants bring real-world expertise as lawyers or police officers.

The challenge, however, is countering misinformation and hostile actors. Organizers have encountered individuals impersonating ICE agents to spread false narratives and undermine the group's efforts. To address this, onboarding processes screen participants before educational activities begin.

Partner organization Define American is deeply involved in the project, supporting research-backed strategies to shift how immigrants are depicted in digital media. Shauna Siggelkow, the group's vice president of programs, emphasized that changing public attitudes toward immigration fundamentally requires transforming the discourse in popular culture. She argued that fostering an understanding of legal rights is critical – not just for immigrants, but for all participants in these digital communities.

Image credit: CalMatters