Wow. Researchers at the University of California San Diego have created a video game simulating the experiences of Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in internment camps during World War II: Researchers' Video Game Puts Players in Japanese-American Internment Camps.
Drama in the Delta is a 3D role-playing game that puts players in the shoes of internees from a variety of perspectives. The game, a collaboration between UCSD's theater and dance department and the San Diego Supercomputer Center, explores two Arkansas-based internment camps and their surrounding areas:
In a prototype level available now (fair warning: some computer tinkering may be required to get the game up and running, and it works only on a PC), players assume the role of Jane, a 14-year old Japanese-American girl, who has been tasked by her best friend with retrieving items scattered throughout the camp before the friend and her family are sent away.The game is still apparently in its prototype stages, so they're still looking at the gameplay and its effect on users. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds like a really great way to educate and create empathy about the internment. To learn more about Drama in the Delta, go to the website here.
Other planned characters include a Japanese-American soldier from Hawaii, a Japanese-American girl who acts in a Kabuki performance, and an African-American musician from the surrounding Arkansas community.
