Human rights are in peril, democracy in the dust. You: an agent of the Council on American Heritage, sent to capture mysterious fugitive Ken Asaba--and into high-risk situations that challenge you to ask: What if? How close are we already to America 2049? America 2049 is a Facebook game, reaching beyond the world's most popular social network to include other social media, fictional websites, historical artifacts, real-life events, and Hollywood celebrities.

America 2049
Mallika Dutt & Heidi Boisvert Present America 2049

This award winning project features Harold Perrineau (LOST), Victor Garber (Alias), Cherry Jones (24), Anthony Rapp (Rent), and comedian/actor Margaret Cho. The game drops players into an alternate reality America of the near future, sends them to track a mysterious fugitive, and asks them, in the process of completing their various missions, to make tough and thoughtful decisions about the future of human rights and democracy in this country: from immigrants' and women's rights to marriage equality and freedom of expression. It combines social networking with videos, voice-overs, graphics, historical artifacts, offline events, its own "search engine of the future" (www.zooglio.com) and student curriculum in talk-show format (www.gooddayeverydaynews.com).

America 2049 was conceived and produced by Breakthrough, a global human rights organization that uses the power of pop culture to advance equality, dignity, and justice. It is the first Facebook game to integrate the social networking platform with many other resources, online and off: multimedia and interactive features, historical artifacts, clues planted across the Internet and real-life events at leading cultural institutions nationwide.

"Things started to go downhill in the year 2012, when Rachel Ng created, SMRTTid, an injectible subdermal chip designed to replace keys, bank cards and ID cards for increased convenience and security. This invention also enabled every business and government body to identify and track citizens and their private activities. As a result, many of the civil rights that Americans live by today were dismantled after an oppressive fundamentalist regime came into office.

Fast track to the year 2049: the Federal government is powerless, while individual states have remade societies in their own images, bringing back segregation, homophobia, anti-miscegenation laws, and restrictions against “foreign” cultures. With the nation divided, state against state, a new organisation called the Council on American Heritage (CAH) rose to power as a collaborative effort between private and regional government agencies. They’re “American as Apple Pie” and vigilant in their efforts to “protect the American way of life from anything and everything that might threaten it.”

Their key threat is Divided We Fall, an alleged domestic “terrorist” organisation led by a woman known only as M, fighting for civil rights and the reunification of the American States. Divided We Fall actively opposes the passage of the Abolition Ballot, which would cause the United States to dissolve into a collection of separate states. The political landscape has already deteriorated so far that China cut ties with America due to its “unstable government.”

Divided We Fall is allegedly responsible for a recent attack on a secure government facility, where at least five inmates were freed. This may or may not be connected to the escape of Ken Asaba, allegedly a foreign national who fled from a quarantine center outside of Portland and may be carrying the Namibian Plague. If I’m using the word “allegedly” a lot, it’s because it depends on who you believe – the CAH or DWF.

So, the question remains: what would you rather be: happy, or free? Your actions will decide the fate of the country. - ARGNet

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