The Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat created a secret virtual room where approximately 4 million Russian players can read and listen to news about the war in Ukraine, thus circumventing the restrictions.
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It is an attempt to circumvent Russian restrictions on news about the war in Ukraine from Western media: Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat is using the famous Counter Strikes video game, popular among Russian gamers, convey information about the conflict. The initiative was unveiled on Wednesday, World Press Freedom Day.
Counter Strike is a shooter game where users see the action through the eyes of their avatar. They can play on pre-built “maps” or create their own custom maps that anyone can play on. The newspaper created a city called voynawhich means “war” in Russian, inspired by ex-Soviet cities.
In the basement of one of the city’s buildings, Helsingin Sanomat has hidden a room where players can find news written in Russian by war correspondents in Ukraine. The news and photographs of the conflict are ‘pasted’ on the walls of the digital room and address events such as the massacres in the Ukrainian cities of Bucha and Irpin.
It is information “that not available in Russian state propaganda sources”, summarizes Antero Mukka, editor-in-chief of the newspaper. On one wall is a map of Ukraine locating attacks on civilians, and Russian-language audio recording of newspaper reports can be heard in the background.
The avatars controlled by the players can kill or be killed and, according to the newspaper itself, the moment of death is “decisive” to access the secret room. “When a player’s avatar dies, the view of the game changes: for a while, the player can walk through walls or fly across the map. At this point, you can also find the secret room hidden underground, ”describes the newspaper.
In Russia, non-Russian media like Helsingin Sanomat are blocked, but not online games. “I believe that the Russians also have the right to have access to factual and independent information, so that they can make their own life decisions,” defends Mukka.
The map, released on Monday, had already been downloaded more than 2,000 times as of Wednesday, but the newspaper was unable to identify which countries. It is estimated that four million Russians play Counter Strike.
Source: Observadora
