An online game oriented against Obama’s administration has become a handy tool for opponents of the US president.
“2011: Obama's coup fails”. That's the name of a new controversial American computer game. It is an online browser multi-player action game, depicting the US President triggering the collapse of the country. In the scenario, Obama's policies lead to public outrage and a revolution.
The creators of the game work behind a metal door due to safety considerations. After the threats they have been receiving, the crew decided to keep their New York office secret.
Michael Russotto is the only mastermind out of 8 people behind the game not afraid to reveal his identity. He says over 13,000 members have already signed on, and hundreds of people play everyday.
Michael is one of Obama’s harshest critics. "He is purposely destroying the economy of the United States,” says Michael. “The policies that he is enacting, it's a guarantee of destroying us.”
This entire attitude is put in “2011: Obama’s coup fails”. Raids, skirmishes, assaults, hacker attacks and riots are at a player’s disposal as they try to win the game by fighting Obama and his troops.
With player nicknames such as "fascism rising", "osama" and "saddam", critics call the game a promotion of domestic terrorism. But Michael Russotto explains that the game is not as violent as it may seem.
"Not one person in the Obama administration is killed, no one is assassinated,” Michael told RT. “They get captured…by American citizens who don't want the United States to become any kind of dictatorship.”
Michael is afraid, that one day the game could reflect the future for America, if current policies don't start changing.
"Obama and his administration…with every policy that they have, no matter what it is, want the unemployment rate to skyrocket, they want people to be on welfare, and it's destroying this country,” Russotto states. “So the game itself shows a scenario of what could easily happen by the 2010 elections.”
95 percent of those who play the game are based in America. Popularity is increased by the offer of $150 a month to players with the highest scores. Michael expects up to 200,000 players to join within the next year.