Human trafficking, ranked as the second largest organized crime globally, is confronting a novel adversary: mobile games. Mobile Premier League (MPL), a tech startup headquartered in Bengaluru, has joined forces with the NGO Missing Links Trust to unveil a Role-Playing Game (RPG) named “Missing.” This initiative aims to raise awareness about human trafficking among potential victims and the general public.
Role of Mobile Games in Combatting Human Trafficking
The RPG genre is renowned for its popularity in gaming, typically featuring gamers assuming roles like assassins, sorcerers, or zombies in American or Japanese games such as Dungeons & Dragons. In a groundbreaking role reversal, the Missing game on MPL immerses players into the experience of a trafficked girl in India.
Positive Reception and Impact
Namratha Swamy, MPL’s Country Manager for India, revealed that the game, launched in April, garnered overwhelmingly positive responses from its 90 million users. Achieving a position among the top ten games within the first month and consistently maintaining its popularity, Missing has emerged as a significant contributor to MPL’s gaming portfolio.
Multilingual Accessibility and Gameplay
Available in multiple languages including Hindi, English, Marathi, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Telugu, Gujarati, Maithili, and Tamil, the game is meticulously designed to offer players a glimpse into the harrowing journey of a trafficked individual. Players navigate through various choices, aiming to escape the clutches of traffickers.
Addressing the United Nations’ Objectives
Leena Kejriwal, the founder of Missing Trust, emphasized the game’s alignment with the United Nations’ anti-trafficking framework, particularly focusing on prevention. By leveraging gaming as a tool for change, the initiative underscores the theme of this year’s International Day Against Human Trafficking: “Use and Misuse of Technology.”
Alarming Statistics and Urgency of Action
In India alone, an average of 1,827 women are trafficked every hour, with 16 million women falling victim to sex trafficking annually, as per a Dasra report. Shockingly, about 40% of these victims are adolescents and children, underscoring the urgency of addressing this pervasive issue.
State-Level Challenges and Efforts
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Maharashtra and Telangana reported the highest number of human trafficking cases in 2020, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Jharkhand. Such statistics highlight the imperative for localized interventions and collaborative efforts to combat trafficking effectively.
Jade Simon
