For several months, a conflict between Hong Kong and China has been escalating. The protest movement has now found its way to GTA 5, as players from both sides engage in virtual street battles.
What is the Hong Kong conflict? Anyone who has followed the news in recent months has certainly heard something about the protests in Hong Kong. Many, especially young people, are taking to the streets to demonstrate against China’s growing influence.
A part of the protest is now being acted out in GTA 5. There, Hongkongers roam around dressed like the protesters and cause unrest. Chinese players have taken notice and wear police clothing that seeks to quash such uprisings.
In GTA 5 Online, both groups then clash.
Players Call for Participation
How it all started: Since the last Heist update in GTA Online, there are new clothes. This includes clothing items that strongly resemble what those protesters are wearing who are currently on the streets of Hong Kong.
As reported by abacusnews , some players quickly disguised themselves as these protesters and set out in GTA Online. They set police cars on fire or vandalized public transportation.
How players organize themselves: In forums like weibo in China or a special forum in Hong Kong, LIHKG, the new trend in GTA 5 spread quickly. Players called on others to join their crew named “Stand With Hong Kong”.
However, many counter-demonstrators also reacted in these forums, forming the counterpart to the protesters: the Chinese police.
Players joined both groups and are now hunting each other in GTA 5.
How it goes down: According to some entries in the forums, there have indeed been street battles in GTA 5. The players pretending to be police are hunting the demonstrators with water cannons. The demonstrators, in turn, are setting cars on fire or even seeking to vandalize a subway station.
According to various entries, the China-aligned players have gained the upper hand. They are reportedly simply many more, and the protesters have no chance.
How serious is this whole thing? It’s hard to tell from the outside. The whole action is not purely for fun. Looking at the comments in the forums, there is a lot of seriousness behind it.
After the defeat against the numerically superior Chinese, Hongkongers urged others on social media to join them in the fight in GTA 5 Online.
As one user said: “I don’t blame you for not having the guts to throw Molotov cocktails at the police in real life. But in the game, there are weapons and rocket launchers, and you don’t have the guts to kill these Shina players?”.
What could happen now? Many players from mainland China accuse Hongkongers of doing this just so that GTA 5 gets banned in China.
There are indeed many comments expressing fear of a ban on GTA Online from China. However, this has not happened at this time.
In WoW, for example, the curse filter in the chat is set so that everything related to “Hong Kong” is censored from the outset. There, they don’t want to have the conflict at all.
Gaming has also dealt with the conflict before: It is not the first time that the protests in Hong Kong have had to do with the gaming world. A few months ago, Blizzard suspended a Hearthstone pro after he spoke out for the protests in Hong Kong.
This was followed by a global backlash against Blizzard, who were accused of bowing to China. During Blizzcon, the protests were at their loudest.
Lastly, GTA 5 received a lot of praise for a small detail:
