《小喇叭》第三期,以「打機」為題,從一個非 gamer 的角度,嘗試紀錄 2014 年以來 video game 與香港社會運動之間的微妙連結,為後世留下一個參考座標。
雜誌開宗明義指出,用打機來 protest 並非新鮮事,尤其自 2000 年初 newsgame 概念出現後,遊戲開始成為政治、倡議甚至抗爭的載體。在香港,從 2014 年雨傘運動啟發的《香港無雙》《Yellow Umbrella》,到 2019 年反送中運動中更大量的「遊戲抗爭」實例,玩家穿梭虛擬與現實,甚至以《香城Online》為象徵,將「endgame」「打大佬」等遊戲術語融入運動日常語言之中。
本期內容分為三大部分——
「白金版」:收錄一系列在香港抗爭脈絡中最具代表性的遊戲;
「紀念版」:介紹多款雖然 low-tech、卻充滿心思的 indie game;
「有病版」:客觀呈現三款問題多多的「散裝生粉」。
這一期《小喇叭》既是對香港遊戲—社會運動交界的整理,留下對「打機」與香港近年社會運動歷史的一份獨特註腳。
The third issue of Siu2 La3 Ba1 (Little Trumpet) takes “gaming” as its theme, approaching the subject from a non-gamer’s perspective to document the subtle connections between video games and Hong Kong’s social movements since 2014 — leaving behind a point of reference for the future.
The magazine states outright that using video games as a form of protest is nothing new. Especially since the emergence of the “newsgame” concept in the early 2000s, games have increasingly become vehicles for politics, advocacy, and even resistance. In Hong Kong, titles like Hong Kong Musou and Yellow Umbrella were inspired by the 2014 Umbrella Movement, and by the time of the 2019 anti-extradition protests, the phenomenon of “gaming as protest” had multiplied. Players traversed both virtual and real worlds, and games like Hong Kong Online became emblematic — with gaming terms like “endgame,” “boss fight,” and “fire magic” absorbed into the everyday language and codes of the movement.
This issue is divided into three sections—
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Platinum Edition: documenting a collection of the most notable games in the context of Hong Kong’s protest movements;
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Classic Edition: showcasing a range of small but creative indie protest-related games;
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Red Edition: presenting games that were developed by pro-Beijing or pro-establishment individuals or companies.
This issue of Siu2 La3 Ba1 serves both as an organized survey of the intersection between games and Hong Kong’s social movements, and as a unique footnote to the intertwined story of “gaming” and the city’s recent history of protest.