Escape From Woomera

Break-out video game drawing awareness to Australia’s detention centers

EFW Team, 2002-2003

A controversial game-based project that sought to draw first-person awareness to the inhumane treatment of ‘illegal immigrants’ in Australian detention centers. Some consider this project to be the first ‘documentary game, having appeared in the BBC, NYTimes, The Age, Liberation and Neural Magazine.

EFW received federal arts funding, something the Immigration Minister Phil Ruddock wasn’t very happy about.

Escape From Woomera is often cited as the world’s first documentary video game.

OFFICIAL SITE (ARCHIVED)

Please see this archived project site, with information as to the team members, design strategy, history, conceptual and political background.

NOTES

While I am hosting this archived site, it was made as a team effort of which I was a part. It is not in any respect my sole project.

SELECTED ARTICLES

• Australia Funds Asylum Game (BBC)
• Escape Game Wires the Minister (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Escape Game is not a laughing matter (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission)
• Ruddock Fury over Video Game (The Age)
• Online Games Grab Grim Reality (New York Times)
• Escape From Woomera (WikiPedia)

VIDEO GAME ARCHIVE

Escape From Woomera is archived for preservation by PANDORA the National Library of Australia’s web archive.