CAIRO: Online gamers are vying to support their favorite Egyptian presidential candidate in a newly released video game “Who Does Egypt Want?” or “Masr Ayza Min?” Wixel Studios, a small, politically engaged tech design company, released the game in the beginning of September. The studio was inspired by the role that social media and technology played in the January 25 Revolution that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year. They hoped to enhance the experience of online civic engagement in Egypt with their interactive game. “Part of the revolution was initiated, organized, conducted and won online. Social media played a major role in the revolution. With that being said, we wanted to create an interactive platform through which young people from civil society can play and interact in a subject that is relevant to their future and the future of Egypt,” Reine Abbas, the co-founder of Wixel Studios, told Bikyamasr.com. Players collectively vie for their candidate through a series of games, earning points on behalf of their favorite presidential contender. As players rack up points, their candidate becomes stronger and capable of more competitive moves. Built on the merits of democracy, the more player support each candidate gains, the closer they get to winning. Players themselves individually earn points as well. With points collected, they may move up in the ranks from a mere “supporter” to a candidate's “Secretary General.” The game features cartoon versions of six of Egypt's most prominent political candidates– Amr Mousa, Ayman Nour, Hicham Bastawissi, Hamdine Sabahi, and Mohamad El-Baradei, as well as the social media guru Wael Ghonem. Anyone dissatisfied with the six available options may also play using “President X,” a figure chosen from a list of 13 extra possible candidates. “Who Does Egypt Want?” is not the first politically charged game put out by the studio. In 2006, Wixel Studios released a video game exploring Lebanese politics called Douma or Puppets. “The game simulated the tensed Lebanese political situation, and flipped the roles for the first time. People could now control politicians and not vice versa,” explained Reine. During the 2008-2009 Gaza War, Wixel Studios released a game called Gaza Shield. The game was designed as a response to a brutal series of games released by Israeli companies in which players earned points by slaughtering Palestinians. “We created a game where players were to shoot down the missiles raining on Gaza in order to save children's lives, without having to shoot back at Israel. The message was against all the lame claims that we, the resisting Arabs, are terrorists and in some cases barbaric,” Reine said. Reine added that she hopes that Wixel will continue to produce games that reflect the changing Arab world. The game is available for download online. It is currently hosted in Arabic, however Wixel is set to release an English version of the game later this week. BM
