For some people, illegal immigration is a serious national issue; for others, it’s a game.
Literally, it’s now a game.
“Smuggle Truck,” an online game set to debut in March, allows players to drive a rickety-looking truck through what resembles the U.S.-Mexican border over cliffs, mountains, dead animals and even babies. As the truck hits obstacles, immigrants – resembling South Park characters – fall off the truck’s bed.
The game’s creator, Alex Schwartz, calls the game an “interactive satire.”
The mobile application, which calculates scores by the number of immigrants helped crossing the U.S. border, has drawn the ire of immigration activists who call it inappropriate and said it trivializes the dangerous reality of those crossing the border.
“This game mocks the human tragedy that represents undocumented migration. Dying at the border is not a game,” said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, spokesman for Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. “Leaving your land and your family behind in search of a better life is not a game.”
The game was inspired by the frustration that friends of friends felt trying to legally immigrate to the U.S., Schwartz said on the game’s website.
“As we lived through a painful 12 months of our friend struggling through the absurd legal minefield that surrounds U.S. immigration, we felt that we should create a game that touches on the issue,” the company’s statement said. “The comment was thrown around that ‘it’s so tough to legally immigrate to the U.S., it’s almost easier to smuggle yourself over the border,’ and thus Smuggle Truck was born.”
Watch a video trailer of the game.
The game rewards careful drivers with a “Green Card” if they save passengers’ lives. The “Smugglers Run” award goes to reckless drivers who speed through the desert terrain with a minimum of one safe passenger.
The proposed iPhone and iPad application was created by Owlchemy Labs and is set to be released in March if Apple approves.
While the developers of the game may be successful at marketing and selling the game, “it fails to positively contribute to a dialogue about this very serious issue,” Cabrera said.
The creators of the game said they avoided stereotypes. However, immigration activists point to a video trailer for the game that showed cartoon babies bouncing out of the truck, according to the Boston Globe.
The developers have even opened up the game to a contest to add suggestions and new levels. The winner gets to have his or her face on one of the immigrants in the game.
Read more about the game at the Boston Globe, PCWorld.com, FoxNews.com, FoxNewsLatino.com, ABC.com.
Watch how the game works:
  <p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p>
Contact the writer: 714-796-7924 or ccarcamo@ocregister.com or twitter.com/thecindycarcamo
