'Slavery: The Game' teases Dutch documentary series

A game trailer inviting players to make a "tremendous fortune" from the slave trade is designed to raise awareness for a documentary series airing on Dutch TV.

The teaser for Slavery: The Game offers players the chance to purchase and punish human cargo in a bid to stockpile personal wealth and power.

One scene shows various disciplinary weapons available - whips, a rifle, a spiked club - with a saber out of reach until the slave trader had leveled-up.

The trailer was first shown on Dutch website GameKings TV at the start of September, and was picked up by games and entertainment sites the world over.

GameKings host Brian van de Ven returned to the subject on September 8, accompained by documentary researcher Lyangelo Vasquez.

The campaign was "controversial, but very important to focus the attention on the subject of slavery," explained Vasquez.

"It's a bad part of history and people don't like to talk about it. It seems a long time ago, but it may be just four, five or six generations back in family history for descendants of slaves."

"Today there are still 27 million people who live in slavery, which is more slaves than there were transported during the [period of] Trans-Atlantic slavery."

Vasquez and van de Ven also discuss reactions to Slavery: The Game in North America and the Netherlands, touching on the modern role of the slave trade in the sex industry, agriculture, and the manufacture of clothing and toys.