Using the Virtual World to Teach About Human Trafficking: Interactive and Experiential Environments

Introduction

Human trafficking is a growing and ever-present danger throughout the globe. Various organizations cite this as a growing business and concern, including the UN, UNICEF, Interpol, the US State Department, Homeland Security, and other related national and international law enforcement agencies based in the US, as well as social services and public health agencies. Human trafficking may seem to be a problem that is elsewhere, rather than in developed countries. In truth, trafficking occurs heavily where there is wealth, as it is driven by capital. There is a prevalence to believe that developed countries are more immune, or do a better job of limiting or eradicating human trafficking, however, human trafficking is commerce, and wealthier countries represent larger populations of consumers. With the difficulty of acknowledging the presence of and societal participation in human trafficking comes for many the resistance to learning to recognize the signs of human trafficking. Because the most common targets of trafficking are populations deemed undesirable or unworthy at large, it may be easy to believe the activity simply isn’t present in one’s own community. One may hear people make comments around activities being acceptable in another culture, justifying the activity and removing one’s own responsibility or obligation to act against the forms of trafficking abroad. The problem becomes multifaceted. How can this topic of trafficking be motivated within individuals to seek to explore in terms of recognition and prevention of such crime? How can individuals, or groups, be enticed or convinced that the major way to make a difference may be to gaze deeply into one’s own societal mirror and acknowledge the dangers and presence of such appalling conditions? This chapter suggest that one way to gain attention and motivate learning to recognize the signs, problems and underlying vulnerabilities to trafficking is through the use of video games.

Currently, video games are one of the most immersive and engaging forms of entertainment in developed nations. At one point, video games would be considered for children, however, the average age of video game purchaser in the US was 35 in 2013, with only 32% being under 18 years old (Entertainment Software Association, 2013). The percentage of video gamers continues to grow as players age. In a 2021 online survey of 4000 respondents, the distribution has shifted. This offers the addition of video gaming environments to demonstrate an opportunity for these games to be implemented as useful environments through which to teach trafficking awareness education, and other education opportunities, among adults. Yet it is worthy of consideration that younger people, under the age of 18 years old, engage in video games; this offers the recognition that early introduction to an awareness of human trafficking may be a viable consideration. Of intrigue, is that the US military has been using video games and video game simulations for decades for training in reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, combat training, and even recruiting (Grappe, 2020; Kuhn, 2020). In some cases, non-player characters (NPCs), also referred to as non-human interactive avatars, are used for soldiers to interact for these purposes. The NPCs are automated, scripted avatars that perform limited interactions, forwarding the game play in some manner. Some of these games are designed by the military specifically for these purposes, while others are commercial games used off the shelf.

There are existing video games that attempt to focus on awareness and education in the area of human trafficking. However, many of these are currently recognized as prototypes, incomplete, and/or of ambiguous design. In the case of CrimeStoppers UK (2013a, 2013b, 2013c, 2013d), the gaming application makes use of readily available technology and interaction environments, such as YouTube; however, the application is limited, because only one trafficking scenario is represented via series of short videos. The video game ACT! by Engineering Computer Simulations (ECS, 2021) was created as part of the Serious Games Showcase & Challenge (SGS&C, 2021). This game demonstrates an educational game for children (ACT! Awareness Combats Trafficking, 2016). The BAN Human Trafficking educational game by Balkans, ACT NOW (ACT NOW Foundation, n.d.), appears to be fully functional, with young adults of 18 years of age or older designated as the focus and target player being young adults, not children under the age of 18 years old (http://banhumantrafficking.com/en/play-the-game).