A CSGO map contains a secret room wherein players can view stories about the Russian military’s activities in Ukraine, which would otherwise be banned under the Kremlin’s laws curtailing free press. The Valve FPS game is currently not subject to this type of censorship in Russia, allowing Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper, to build and share the Counter-Strike map as a way of exposing Russian CSGO players to facts about the invasion of Ukraine.
Constructed by two experienced CSGO map builders and commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat, ‘de_voyna,’ (‘voyna’ means ‘war’ in Russian), replicates a destroyed Eastern-European city. On first glance, it is similar to many other custom-made Counter-Strike maps.
But Helsingin Sanomat has constructed de_voyna as a way of informing Russian CSGO players about what is happening in Ukraine. In a statement provided to PCGamesN, Helsingin Sanomat’s editor-in-chief, Antero Mukka, outlines the objective behind the CSGO arena.
“Russians have very little chance to receive independent information about Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” Mukka explains. “However, the gaming world and gamers themselves are still left unchecked. That’s why we decided to hide a newspaper inside the world’s most popular war game.
“We built a map of a Slavic city devastated by a war, inside the game, with a secret room that offers Russian gamers an uncensored access to the horrors of the war in Ukraine in their native language.”
When you die on de_voyna, you are able to enter spectator mode and tour the map in typical CSGO fashion. With the free camera, however, you can also find a hidden room, which Helsingin Sanomat has decorated with Russian-language versions of its articles about the invasion of Ukraine.
“As the Russian government has de facto suppressed its national press and blocked access to foreign media, Counter-Strike has remained as one of the rare channels that allows us to communicate independent information to Russians about real events from the war”, Mukka continues.
“Ordinary Russians know practically nothing about the war crimes and atrocities toward civilians committed by the Russian army. One of the most touching stories in the secret room is about a Ukrainian man that went to the store.
“While he was there, Russian troops killed his family with a missile strike. The secret room built into the game is meant to force Russian gamers to face what’s really going on in the war in Ukraine.”
The CSGO map containing the secret room was released on May 2, to honour World Freedom of the Press day, which follows on May 3. It is estimated that around four million people in Russia play CSGO regularly.
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With Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, readers may wish to donate money to organisations like The Ukraine Crisis Appeal, International Rescue Committee, and the British Red Cross.