Political awareness through a video game? That seems to be part of the idea behind ICED!, a video game that allows player to roleplay and be put in the shoes of people who lose their student visas and others detained by the Department of Homeland Security.

“The game allows you to get into the body of a person, so you can experience what they are going through. There are very few opportunities to get that perspective,” said Mallika Dutt, head of the nonprofit Breakthrough, which produced the game and uses new media to highlight social issues around the world.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a video game dealing with the issue of immigration (Border Patrol anyone?). It is the first time we’ve seen it dealt in such a nuanced way. Think of it as a political SIMS.

“ICED!” seeks to show how immigration laws passed in 1996 expanded the number of crimes that can trigger deportation and limited immigrants’ rights to appeal.

The game, a play on the name of the Immigration Customs Enforcement agency, is scheduled to be available for free download next month (as soon as it’s up we will review it).

Players try to avoid deportation by keeping a low profile and performing community service. Shoplifting or jumping a subway turnstile loses points. Lose too many, and your character ends up in a federal detention facility.”ICED!” gamers can become a Mexican high school graduate whose family overstayed its visa, or a Haitian war veteran who faces deportation when he turns to alcohol and crime after returning from Iraq. In the first level, players keep a low profile in a city vaguely resembling New York. In the second level, they must navigate an immigration detention center.

The game was specifically created to target young adult audiences. But does it simplify the immigrant reality too much? How do immigrant communities feel about the game?

Via / http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20097103/wid/11915829?GT1=10349