Russian gamers recreated the fight for Soledar, a city in Ukraine that Russian troops conquered in January, in Microsoft’s Minecraft and posted a video of the game to VKontakte, Russia’s most popular social media network.
A 2021 article states that Minecraft versions of Russian towns, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and others, were created on a 1:1000 scale.
As part of BuildTheEarth, exact replicas of cities were made. The project aimed to replicate Earth in Minecraft at a scale of 1:1,000 (1 Minecraft block = 1 meter). Over 6,000 individuals from all corners of the globe contributed to this endeavor.
A report shows that to mark the 78th commemoration of the defeat of Nazi Germany in May, an account of the Russian version of the World of Tanks, a multi-player combat game, recreated the Soviet Union’s procession of tanks in Moscow in 1945. To mark Russia Day, a national holiday celebrated in June, a Roblox user developed a variety of Interior Ministry units.
Russian agitprop is finding new audiences online via games like these and discussion platforms like Discord and Steam, which the Russian government has exploited to legitimize its military intervention in Ukraine.
Players in this game have taken up the letter Z as a symbol of the Russian troops that invaded Ukraine last year, have endorsed Russia’s territorial claims in Crimea and elsewhere, and have concurred with Putin in his attempts to portray Ukrainians as Nazis and place blame on the West.
According to Kyiv Independent, it is stunning and controversial when Ukrainian militants employ Nazi and neo-Nazi-related insignia. These emblems are extremely insulting since they represent some of the darkest atrocities against humanity and ambitions to eliminate whole populations.
Obviously, it’s always upsetting to see these emblems on troops. The employment of these symbols discredits Ukraine and frightens away some potential sympathizers throughout the globe, even if the actions of individual troops do not reflect an everyday occurrence in the Ukrainian military.
