Just in time for Christmas, the Occupy Oakland riots of 2011 have been immortalized in a new video game simulator called, “Riot: Civil Unrest.”

Players can be police, and choose “whether to use smoke grenades, rubber and plastic bullets, tasers or even live ammunition,” among other tactical options.

Or they can be rioters, and “attack authority with Molotov cocktails, fireworks, paper-bombs, rocks, street furniture and the power of the media.”

For what it’s worth, hurling a reporter at a police line almost never works.

According to the Merge Games promo, “rather than attempting to popularize violence to a desensitized video game generation, the developers set out to create a game in which force and violence work short term but patience and passive actions yield far more positive outcomes.”

Merge Games say it sold 10,000 copies in the first 24 hours — at $11.69 apiece, with the introductory discount.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross