I have a friend named Stevie. When she was in high school, she lived in a car with her physically handicapped mom and their small dog.
Literally for years – three of her four high school years – they would drive place to place trying to avoid harassment and detection, so they might stay safe. When my friend got off work, she’d park in a McDonald’s parking lot until closing time. Sometimes they’d get away with staying all night, but generally they’d move along so the cops didn’t start recognizing their car.
On special days – the days when the fast-food chain had two-for-one deals – they’d order two burgers, one regular and one with the meat on the side. Stevie’s mom would enjoy the regular burger, and Stevie had a cheese sandwich, giving the meat from the other burger to their dog.
Good times? No. Not fun and not something that would be fun to simulate, or so I would’ve thought.
In fact, in all the decades I’ve covered poverty issues or worked managing homeless shelters, I never once heard an individual’s or family’s personal story and thought, Gee, we ought to contact Nintendo and see what they could do with this!
But someone did.
Someone who lacked any real knowledge about poverty and homelessness.
And now – to my shock and chagrin – the market is flooded with video games that allow people to “experience homelessness.” Even though the experiences in these games bear very little resemblance to the lives I’ve witnessed working with the population for forty years.
Street Survival Homeless Simulator available on Nintendo Switch is set in a “sprawling urban environment” even though – according to the U.S. Department of Education, millions of people experience homelessness in our more suburban and rural parts of the nation. This game boasts that you’ll have the opportunity to live with “just the clothes on your back,” and you’ll be able to “beg and steal.”
Then the violence breaks out. Nintendo advertises an opportunity to “engage in intense street fights where only the strongest survive and learn to outwit the cops who are always on the lookout for troublemakers.”
Ah yes, troublemakers.
Just one of the many stereotypes pinned on folks experiencing homelessness – when for the most part, nothing is further from the truth. I’ve seen veterans experiencing homelessness forage and provide for newly homeless moms and their kids who have no food. I’ve seen elders – priced out of housing – move to a shelter or the street for the first time in their lives when their ability to provide for themselves becomes impossible.
Stereotypes to sell games are most insidious when they also happen to be lies.
But it’s not just Nintendo. Street Dude Homeless Empire, an app developed by SayGames LTD, is available from Google, Apple and Amazon and is recommended for children four-years-old and up. The app even has over 7,400 ratings on Apple. Here’s how the app-makers describe their game:
“Being homeless probably isn’t one of your life ambitions, but wouldn’t it be good to know that you could thrive as a hobo if push came to shove? See how the underclass lives in this unique sandbox game that challenges you to overcome the rules of capitalism and rise from zero to hero to become the richest street urchin to ever live. Jump to the challenge and let this scintillating simulator stimulate you to usurp the upper class and become the best bum you can be!”
Street Dude Homeless Empire features “No More Mr. Nice Bum” and encourages violence:
“This ultra-realistic simulator provides you with access to a world of weapons and tools to help you conquer your enemies and protect your friends. Dispatch those who oppose you with hammers, clubs, bats and more, while also building shelters for you and your homeless allies. Become feared and respected in your neighborhood and beyond.”
A good dumpster dive can also yield enough extra points to score a baseball bat for extra bloody escapades.
Some of these games have more than a million downloads. A million times that falsehoods, stereotypes and caricatures are repeated to malign the most marginalized in our communities.
Don’t have the available cash to invest in a game that lets you assault the homeless? Not to worry, Roblox has a free offering entitled, Beat Up Homeless Outside 711. And even though the geniuses that created it spelled 7-Eleven wrong; you get their point.
After decades spent with folks experiencing homelessness, in all 48 contiguous states, I’ve never been frightened for my safety – unless you count a healthy fear of catching tuberculosis. Poverty was the only consistent and pervasive form of violence that I encountered.
Cruelty exists in the homeless community, but it’s the top-down kind. The kind where the wealthiest country on the planet abandons millions and then rampant divisiveness encourages others to invent role playing games where anyone can beat the living daylights out of a person living in a tent behind the 7-Eleven.
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Oh, and if you do a quick web search you can see that beating those experiencing homelessness happens more often than you’d think.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not implying that any video games cause violence. Hitler didn’t have video games, and he murdered millions.
No, these games are just a symptom of a wealthy society that turns their backs on people in need and then blames them for their rotten circumstances. A repugnant exhibition of the joy people feel when they embrace stereotypes and cause virtual harm.
If you’re thinking – well, I don’t play those games so I’m not so bad – think again. The harm done to Stevie and her mom those three years in the car wasn’t virtual. It was real. And maybe you can tell yourself you’re not the person who caused it. But what you may need to know is that – with rare exception – you’re also the person who did nothing to stop it.
