Video game emphasizes to not touch black women’s hair

Creator Momo Pixel designed the game after she was tired of people producing unwanted touches of her hair. in addition to some other black women are squally tired of undesired touching, which will be why the game, released on Wednesday, has gone viral.

the item’s a conversation that will keeps happening, although black women have repeatedly said, “Don’t touch my hair.” The message has been relayed within the news, in entertainment media in addition to right now in video games. Pixel says the message needed to be shared Just as before “so we don’t have to keep having This specific conversation.”

The title will be a play on the phrase “hell nah (no).”

“When people ask you if they can touch [your hair], you want to say to them, ‘Hell nah,'” Pixel said. “These are moments you want to say ‘nah’ however for your hair.”

Gamers are taken on a journey in This specific game. Literally. There’s a choice of going to Osaka, Japan; Havana, Cuba or the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California. You can even craft your own black woman avatar, choosing the skin colour in addition to hair style, so you’re truly in character due to This specific experience.

As you make your way to the airport to catch your flight, you must swat away the many white hands that will suddenly pop out of every direction to touch your avatar’s hair. A narrator avatar, based on Pixel, guides you along with encouraging messages, reminding you that will you’re a black girl who rocks. however just catching flights in addition to not feelings will be difficult in This specific game.

Pixel says she wants people to know “how much of an invasion of privacy in addition to personal space This specific will be.” She admits that will she made the game difficult because she wanted to create a sense of anxiety, since that will’s what a “hair nah” moment induces.

One of the worst memories she has of a “hair nah” moment was when she was checking out at a grocery store. The cashier reached over the conveyor belt in addition to grabbed her braids. This specific ironically happened during the time she was designing the game.

“the item felt like getting molested, because she was caressing them,” Pixel said. “Even thinking about the item right now, I just want to throw up. I was uncomfortable.”

Pixel, who’s been wearing her hair in vibrant, multi-colored styles since 2011, says the item happens “abundantly” in Portland, which she describes as a very white place. “I’ve lived a lot of places however people touch my hair here more than anywhere,” she said. “I remember being mad all the time. I used to just hate walking outside because [I] knew someone was going to invade [my] space.”

that will feeling will be what she wanted to convey in her game. If you reach your destination within the game, you’re congratulated in addition to left that has a reminder that will, although the game will be over, “This specific will be an issue black women face daily. So a note to those who do the item, ‘stop that will sh*t.'”

however she says the item happens to black men, too, with the hair on their head in addition to their face. Pixel plans to make a style for black men.

Her future plans also include creating a “hair nah” app in addition to clothing line based on the game with an ’80s aesthetic.

“Sometimes I just have to do the item for the culture,” Pixel said.