A Virtual Maze, Dealing with a Real Life Problem This is an article i recently wrote for the great folks at Global Kids! Check out the site and read the article bellow. A Virtual Maze, Dealing with a Real Life Problem
By Tecno TigerI landed at the entrance of the Camp GK maze. After hearing so much about it, I couldn't wait to enter.
The entrance has several snapshots on the walls of others that have been in the maze, made it to the end, and taken a snapshot of themselves wearing a ‘Slavery Still Exists’ shirt. There is also a plaque with credits and a sign informing residents to enter mouselook when going into the maze.
I entered, and went down the only path I could find that wasn’t a dead end. The first thing I saw was an image of a young, female child curled up against a wall hugging a teddy bear looking distressed. As I continued down the path, another photo of a young female child showed her against a wall, crying into her hands, curled up like a ball. A few feet away was another picture of a person caged.
I started to feel a little upset, beginning to realise that this was quite a serious issue, even if it is shaped into a game like a maze.
Once again I saw a picture frame, this time containing a poster about Child Pornography. "Behind every picture there’s pain" it read. It must be a lot worse for children than adults enduring the Sex Trafficking industry, I thought, as I continued to search through the maze.
After turning into a dead end, I went back and found another poster reading, "STOP! Child pornography on the internet" and some text telling me that in the year 2000, 1.8 million children were exploited in prostitution or pornography worldwide. This made me think, right now as I go through this maze, someone on the Internet is probably downloading child pornography, and a child somewhere is probably being exploited for prostitution.
It was now imprinted on my mind that this Child Sex Trafficking is a real problem, happening in the real world, and I felt something needed to be done.
I continued to walk happily through the maze until… Uh oh, I was stuck. What looked to be a dead end was actually a door. It said, "Almost half way through this maze, but you can't go until you get through this challenge.” Then bellow it, “Click here for the question.”
Guess what I did next?! That’s right, I clicked it!
"Child sex trafficking is what form of business? A. Organized Crime B. Pornography C. Selling Drug.” I went with A, Organized Crime, and the door opened for five seconds, dropped me a “Slavery still exists” button .
I went through to the second half of the maze and continued on my journey.
I saw lots of images that made me think. They helped me realise that people are suffering all the time. "Child pornographers also take a child’s innocence, self esteem and dignity”, read a poster near to the end of this section. The path started to get foggy, and I came to a door, again like the previous one, but this time with different text.
"Click the door in front of you. After answering the question correctly, you may proceed to maze # 2." I clicked, and was given this following question, "Besides American citizens, which other groups is exploited in the US sex industry? A. Eastern Europeans and Asians, B. Latin Americans, C. All of the above.”
I went with C, and the door opened for five seconds, giving me enough time to run through and make it to a hallway leading to the second maze, whilst receiving a “Slavery Still Exists” ball and chain.
"In Sri Lanka, children often become the prey of sexual exploiters through friends and relatives. The prevalence of boys in prostitution here is strongly related to foreign tourism”, read some text accompanied by a photo of a child in the foreground and men in the background, standing in a line. From following images I saw in the second maze, I started to think that the second maze was focused more on young boys rather then female children in the first maze. The next quote backed up my theory. "In El Salvador, one- third of the sexually exploited children between 14 and 17 years of age are boys."
The second maze so far had been more informative with facts and figures than the first, still with plenty of images as well. Also a bit trickier to get round. Maybe it's supposed to be? Is each maze of the three mazes harder?
"Mexico is the No. 1 country providing sex trafficking to the United States, accounting for the majority of federal trafficking cases." Halfway again! Another dead end door. I clicked for the question.
"How do traffickers trick and trap economically poor children into the commercial sex trade? A. Promise of freedom from parents. B. Promise of money or a good job. C. All of the above.”
I went with C and received a “Slavery still exits” wristband. Lots of information was everywhere on this second half of the second maze. I learnt that 1/3 of the prostitutes in Thailand were under 18.
Carrying on, I went deeper into the maze, for quite a while, only to lead to a dead end. I found it hard to retrace my steps. I felt trapped. Although there is no way I could ever feel like the victims of the Sex Trafficking industry without going through it, this did give me a small idea of what it feels like: going deeper and deeper through deceit and lies, trying to take everything life throws at them on the chin, until it's gone too far and they’re stuck.
Finally making it out, past some more images of children who have suffered, some crying, I made it to another door. Clicking it, I received this question, “How many people including children are trafficked across international borders each year? A 700,000 B. 50,000 C. 90,000.”
I went with A and once again got the question correct, receiving a really cool “Slavery still exists” freedom dove.
Avoiding two dead ends, I entered the third maze. I was happy to see the first image was a group of children smiling together; it made me remember that Child Sex Trafficking is a problem happening to a lot of children, but not all children. What happened in the third maze next was really weird. I got completely lost; there were no pictures or text anywhere. I kept walking around aimlessly for a while, then somehow, without passing the half way door, got to the end door of the third maze. Spooky!
True or false the door asked this time. “If all commercial sexual exploitation is stopped, some children will be robbed of their means to survive.”
Going with false, I came to another hallway and received a “Slavery still exists T-shirt.”
Then I came upon a cool looking teleporter, which I right-clicked and was teleported.
I arrived at a monument, over 500m up in the sky. There was a donation box, where I donated some money, using the in-game currency called Lindens, and then signed the petition on a website against child sex trafficking, using the link an object in-world had given me. There was a promotional pane for holymeatballs.org, a website/blog run by Global Kids. Putting on the freebies I had won through the maze, I took a snapshot of myself and sent it to Rafi GKid, as a note card informed me to do.
It had been a good adventure. I enjoyed myself, learned a lot, and most importantly, helped raise money to fight Child Sex Trafficking.
