"Despite being primarily a children’s game, Roblox has evolved into a sort of emergent civic theatre for kids online."

Recently, some Roblox players have been conducting virtual Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. There have been Roblox players dressed as ICE agents that barged into other player’s houses. They have “arrested” a user hiding in his kitchen and chased down another player while conducting “Border Patrol” surveillance. Roblox ICE agents hunted down a young player in his Roblox home, banging his door down.

Tensions reached a boiling point, and last week — as thousands took to the streets to protest ICE in the offline world — Roblox players protested within the game, battling cops, breaking down barricades, waving Mexican flags, and facing off across a line of players dressed in police SWAT gear.

  • Optional@lemmy.worldEnglish
    42·
    1 day ago

    Simon Gutierrez, a 17-year-old high school student who organized yesterday’s Roblox protest against ICE, said that he wanted to attend the IRL “No Kings” protests this past weekend, but his older sister said no. So he staged a protest on Roblox to allow other young people to make their voices heard. “A lot of young people really want to protest and put their words and beliefs out there but are unable to, so this is the only thing we can turn to,” Gutierrez said.

    The ICE protests in Roblox have primarily taken place in Brookhaven, a massively multiplayer role‑playing experience on Roblox. The experience’s name is based on the real city of Brookhaven, GA, where offline ICE raids and protests are also taking place. Last Thursday, police arrested six peopleinvolved in anti-ICE protests in the IRL Brookhaven.