Help Tell a Story That Needs to Be Told: Missing Explores the Cruel Realities of Human Trafficking in an RPG
Far too often, games that delve into the real-life experiences of people from non-U.S. countries are given short shrift. They’re dismissed as preachy, or worse, uninteresting. With that in mind, it’s important that you not do the same to MISSING: The Complete Saga, which tells the story of a young girl named Champa, who, in the course of her life (and your gameplay) will come face-to-face with some of the dark, cruel realities of dealing with abduction and human trafficking.
Players control Champa, and will be faced with choices that will guide her through her life, for all its wonderful and terrible moments. The Kickstarter for the game reads:
You must make your own choices as you proceed further in the game. This results in a completely different development of the main character for each individual player. Your small decisions throughout her life will shape her destiny. Be it the skills she will learn, the career path she will follow, or even with whom she will fall in love.
But in this part of the world, some rules that shape lives are twisted, deformed and cruel. The choices in this game aim to mimic the harsh realities that are faced by individuals who become victims of trafficking, and also highlight the difficult choices one has to make to survive in the dark hole of sexual exploitation.
Champa is valiant and fights poverty and social injustice. But will she be able to survive the organized attack of women traffickers looming in her village? Or will she be poached to the red light areas of the city as a sex slave?
It’s all up to you.
The developer behind the game, Leena Kejriwal, previously released a free iOS and Android game based on the same story. It worked as a point-and-click type of adventure, which lends itself well to tablets and mobile phones. But with this Kickstarter, Kejriwal and her collaborator on the original game, Satyajit Chakraborty, are hoping to grow the experience from a point-and-click to a full-fledged role playing game.
As of this writing, the Kickstarter is nearly funded, sitting at just over $48,600, which is $1,400 short of its funding goal. There’s about 20 hours left, so there’s still a little bit of time for you to kick in some money to help see that this story gets told. Make no mistake, either; it’s an important story, one that resonates strongly amongst many, many people around the world. It absolutely deserves to be told.
(via ZAM)
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