Participants were invited to my island over the course of three days. There is a limit of 7 visitors on your island at a time so I would do this in waves. Each round of the protest, we gathered at the entrance near the airport and marched to a memorial site I created at the top end of the island. We then sat down and chanted (typed) protest slogans and yelled (selected reactions). It was a very supportive environment and having been to live protests before I was surprised at how emotional it felt. I probably had 50-60 people attending over the 3 days.
As people left the protest area (it was good to have an area as it is hard to type and walk in the game), they were encouraged to donate bells or cash to the organization of their choice - there were signs set up in an area to indicate the organizations. I would then convert the bell count to dollar donation - 99,000 bells to $100. This was important to me, because many gamers are young or artists and do not have the means to donate cash and I wanted to facilitate this.
The event was also streamed live over Twitch and people were encouraged to make donations there. With the help of corporate matching, we raised funds of around $11,000 towards 5 organizations:
Campaign Zero
NAACP
SPLcenter
Black Tech Mecca
Last Mile NYC
Some Press:
DAZED
The Guardian
Stranger Worlds
“PAWS: Protest, Activism, Whimsy and Self Care in Animal Crossing”
The project was recreated by the School of Art Gallery in Manitoba for the “PAWS: Protest, Activism, Whimsy and Self Care in Animal Crossing” exhibition.
Concept for the Design of the Island:
The design involved the placement of the memorial and the design of the path that protesters would walk leading to the memorial. We would gather near the airport until everyone arrived, I had serendipitously placed 8 floor lights, and people naturally took a light each and it was pretty dramatic. I then took the lead in the march and we took one of the paths towards the memorial. I had signposts for wayfinding along the way in cases people got lost.
The memorial was placed at the end furthest from the airport so it wasn’t obvious where people were heading. The final section of the path is very narrow and enclosed by cliffs so you have to enter in a single file. It is meant to embody the feeling of oppression, where you have to keep moving forward without knowing where you’re going, otherwise you get stuck. This then opens up to an open space, and visitors are greeted by a big moon and waterfall, with gold and black flowers. The faces of black folk that had given their life to spark this movement are stamped into the ground and everyone is invited to take a seat and observe or chant in protest.
The exit is different to the entrance, and people leave through one more elevation to get out to the top level of the island. There are signs of organizations that they can choose to donate to in bells, and I convert that to cash and donate on their behalf. There is also a tombstone space where people can pluck and drop flowers to remember someone in their life. Visitors can then visit the rest of the island or leave.