New York – October 07, 2026 -- The United Nations Spotlight Initiative has launched Sync or Storm, an interactive game on Roblox designed to teach young people about attitudes that contribute to violence against women and girls.
The game is part of the Spotlight Initiative's #WithHer digital advocacy campaign and is now live on the platform, targeting an audience that includes an estimated 43 million Roblox users under age 13 who play daily.
Nearly one in three women experience violence in their lifetime, prompting a push for early prevention.
Koye Adeboye, Head of Communications for the UN Spotlight Initiative, said gaming has become a space where young people shape how they see the world, and that reaching them there is critical to preventing violence before it starts.
Research on rigid masculinity norms links them to bullying and mental health risks.
The game's design draws on Equimundo's Man Box research conducted in the US, UK, and Mexico, which found that people holding the most rigid views of manhood were up to five times more likely to bully or sexually harass others. The same research linked rigid masculinity norms to higher rates of depression and suicidal thoughts, based on findings by Hill et al., 2020. Separately, the Global Early Adolescent Study surveyed 10- to 14-year-olds worldwide and found that gender norms are already entrenched by early adolescence.
Developer Bad Ape built the game with Equimundo and the Spotlight Initiative.
Sync or Storm uses interactive gameplay and collaborative problem-solving to encourage players to reflect on how their actions affect others. Caroline Hayes, Senior Technical Specialist for Digital Strategies at Equimundo, said boys absorb harmful ideas about manhood from the culture around them, including the games they play, and that the title aims to show boys at a formative age that respect and cooperation are expressions of strength.