Dissidentby Releases “1 in 100,000” Game About Life in Belarus and Political Repression
Reform.news Editorial Team · 27 October 2026, 15:43
https://reform.news/en/dissidentby-releases-1-in-100-000-game-about-life-in-belarus-and-political-repression/The human rights project Dissidentby has introduced a game called “1 in 100,000,” in which users are invited to experience the life of a person who faces political repression in Belarus. According to its creators, the scenarios are based on research, human rights reports, and material from independent media.
The authors drew inspiration from the game “1 in 8 Billion,” which gained popularity on Threads. In that game, users are randomly assigned a life in a random location around the world and live through it year by year. In the Belarusian version, a character may be born in Minsk or in a village near Lida, in 1960 or 1995. They grow up, study, fall in love, work, and vote — and then 2020 arrives.
The character’s fate is shaped by decisions made at different stages of life: whether to stand up for a classmate, join the Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRSM), sign an election commission’s protocol, donate money to a program for a prisoner, or leave a comment under a news article. The consequences of some actions may emerge years later.
At the same time, Dissidentby emphasizes that passivity does not guarantee safety: a character may face persecution because of an accidental subscription or a colleague’s denunciation. Loyalty to the system also comes at a cost — for family, friendships, and health.
The game depicts detention in pretrial detention centers and penal colonies, placement in a punishment cell (SHIZO), “chemistry” — restricted freedom involving compulsory labor — pressure on families, and the difficulties of emigration, including queues for documents and the inability to renew a passport. According to the developers, they drew on their own research into the torture of former political prisoners, Dissidentby monitoring data, reports by Human Constanta, BELPOL, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, and Viasna, as well as publications by independent media.
The title refers to an estimate cited by the authors: since 2020, more than 100,000 people in Belarus have been affected by political repression.
One playthrough takes 20–40 minutes. The game is available in Belarusian, Russian, English, and Polish. The creators encourage people to share it with friends abroad to help them better understand what is happening in Belarus.