Research Information System
in: CULTURE AND SOCIETY, Prof. Dr. Мюмюн Тахир,Prof. Dr. Ümran Sevil,Assist. Prof. Ayça Gürkan,Assist. Prof. Gökşen Aras, Editor, Academy for European Culture “Orpheus Lira” – Sofia “Publications”, Sofija, pp.4-844, 2018
The technology is moving at an extraordinary pace and becoming an indispensable
thing of human life in a short time, which affects our perceptions and
our sense of reality. The combination of capitalist understanding with the developing
technology causes everything to materialize. The consumption societies,
which emerge with the constant regeneration of the capitalist system itself, cause
serious inequalities of income on earth. The great powers that can manipulate
other countries economically, politically and in a mediatic way lead to wars,
destruction and increasing immigrants in diverse geographies who have been
forced to leave their homeland. The non-governmental organizations organize
various social awareness projects with regard to the refugees who have to leave
their homeland. One of them has been presented to the world under the name
“Finding Home” in the form of an android application game – unlike other
projects – by the world famous UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees. When this game is uploaded to the mobile
phone, the player becomes a refugee in the game and seeks a place to live. The
game is a mobile phone application where a real refugee girl’s information and
screenshots are seen. The application includes real photos, phone numbers and
WhatsApp contacts. With the help of calls and messages, the player is trying to
find a safe and happy living space out of her/his country by finding her/his separated
siblings and family. In this study, “Finding Home” application / game will
be analyzed based on Jean Baudrillard’s concepts of “Simulation and Simulacra”
and McLuhan’s views. In today’s digital world and consumption society,
how people will be sensitized to one of the life’s most bitter truths – being a refugee
– through a game and how their perceptions can change will be addressed.