Immigration, depression, anxiety and international cultures will be the focus of a series of games beingdeveloped for a video game expo in New York, Play NYC, with an eye on giving players a unique take on realissues. 

        Playcrafting, the organizer of the event, says that diversity is in the DNA of New York, which is why it isproud to celebrate what makes New York and the American gaming industry so special by commissioning six,new “Graffiti Games” installations created by local, first-generation immigrant developers. 

        “Last year was the first convention, and we wanted to make our sophomore year even more impactful,”Dan Butchko, founder of Playcrafting said. “There have been a lot of dialogues that focus on people’sdifferences lately. Games are the great uniter. Whether you’re creating or playing them, they have a way ofbringing people together, no matter where you’re going or where you come from. Giving these talenteddevelopers the space to express themselves with no restrictions was our way to celebrate diversity and thebeauty of the NYC gaming community.” 

        The eight game developers whose work will be featured are originally from China, India, Kazakhstan,Peru, Spain, and Venezuela. Some of their games to be on display include: 

        (1) Home Stretch by Prashast Thapan from New Delhi, India: An arcade-style racing game in which aplayer will race through a city reminiscent of New Delhi to obtain a visa, and then head to New York. Duringtheir travels, obstacles will pile up and the trip becomes progressively more difficult. 

        (2) The Llama Express by Pilar Aranda from Valencia, Spain and Saúl Peña Gamero from Lima, Peru: Alighthearted game in which players ride a train through the fictional country of Esperú, feeding hungry llamasencountered along the way with traditional Hispanic food from the train. 

        (3) A Hero’s Journey by Kurt Young from Beijing, China: A VR game in which players first design anenvironment, choose a hero, a prince or princess and a villain and watch a story unfold. Players need to useeither VR or a projector to battle through obstacles the game contains.

     The process for awarding host city honors came under intense scrutiny after Salt Lake City had beenawarded the right to host the 2002 Olympic Games. Soon after the host city had been announced, it wasdiscovered that the organizers had engaged in an elaborate bribery scheme to     31   with IOC(International Olympic Committee) officials. Gifts and other financial considerations were given to thosewho would evaluate and vote on Salt Lake City’s bid. These gifts included medical treatment for relatives,a college scholarship for one member’s son and a land deal in Utah. Even IOC president Juan AntonioSamaranch received two rifles    32   $2,000. Samaranch defended the gift as inconsequential since, aspresident, he was a non-voting member. 

     The subsequent investigation has uncovered inconsistencies in the bids for every Olympics (bothSummer and Winter) since 1988.   33   , the gifts received by IOC members from the JapaneseOrganizing Committee for Nagano’s bid for the 1998 Winter Olympics were described by the investigationcommittee as “astronomical.” Although nothing strictly illegal had been done, the IOC feared thatcorporate sponsors would lose faith in the integrity of the process and that the Olympic brand would betarnished to such an extent   34   advertisers would begin to pull their support. The investigation resulted in the expulsion of 10 IOC members and the sanctioning of another 10.New terms and age limits were established for IOC membership, and 15 former Olympic athletes wereadded to the committee. Stricter rules for future bids were imposed, with   35      imposed on the valueof gifts IOC members could accept from bid cities.