In May 2024, the U.S. State Department's Global Engagement Center (GEC) issued a request for proposals, offering $1 million to develop a game on a sandbox platform like Fortnite or Roblox. The goal is to create an engaging experience that builds cognitive resilience against disinformation and propaganda.
The intersection of online gaming with misinformation and disinformation has become increasingly significant in 2024, prompting various initiatives that leverage gaming mechanics to educate players on recognizing and combating these issues.
How the 'Bad News' Game Trains Players to Spot Fake News?
Various games have emerged that utilize gamification to combat mis/disinformation. Researchers from the University of Cambridge developed the Bad News game, aimed at educating players about the techniques used in spreading disinformation.
In this interactive experience, players take on the role of a fake news creator, learning to employ strategies such as impersonation, emotional manipulation, and trolling to build a social media following. This approach is grounded in inoculation theory, which suggests that familiarizing individuals with weakened versions of misinformation tactics can enhance their ability to recognize and resist real disinformation.
A recent study involving over 500 upper secondary school students in Sweden demonstrated that gameplay significantly improved participants' ability to identify misleading information in social media posts. The game effectively exposed players to six common misinformation techniques: polarization, emotional appeal, conspiracy theories, trolling, blame shifting, and impersonation. By engaging with these strategies in a controlled environment, players became better equipped to discern credible news from falsehoods.
Dr. Sander van der Linden, director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Laboratory, emphasized that while the game teaches players how to spread fake news, its primary purpose is to demystify these techniques and empower users to recognize them in real-world scenarios. The study's findings suggest that this innovative educational tool not only enhances critical thinking regarding media consumption but also fosters positive attitudes towards reliable news sources.
Fakey: A Game of Deception that Trains Players to Spot Fake News
Like “Bad News,” the innovative browser game designed to simulate the production of fake news is known as Fakey. This game allows players to take on the role of a fake news producer, where they learn to master six documented techniques commonly used in misinformation: polarization, invoking emotions, spreading conspiracy theories, trolling, deflecting blame, and impersonating fake accounts. By engaging with these strategies, players develop a form of cognitive immunity against real-world misinformation.
Fakey operates on the principle of inoculation, which suggests that preemptively exposing individuals to misinformation tactics can enhance their ability to recognize and resist such content later on. A large-scale evaluation involving 15,000 participants demonstrated that gameplay significantly improved players' skills in spotting misinformation, regardless of their educational background, age, political ideology, or cognitive style.
The research conducted by Nicholas Micallef and his team indicates that increased interaction with the game correlates with improved abilities to identify credible information. However, it was noted that while players became more adept at recognizing credible sources, their ability to spot questionable content did not show a significant change.
Fakey serves not only as an educational tool but also as a potential intervention for social media users. The researchers suggest that similar games could be integrated into media literacy curricula or used by social media platforms to conduct regular exercises aimed at improving users' ability to discern credible from misleading information.
The game's design encourages players to reflect on their own consumption of news and develop a more skeptical approach towards information shared on social media.
The Drog Project's Interactive Approach to Media Literacy
The Drog project employs gamification as a method to educate users about disinformation, specifically by allowing participants to engage in interactive gameplay that simulates the creation and dissemination of fake news. This approach is designed to enhance critical thinking and media literacy, equipping players with the skills necessary to recognize and combat disinformation tactics.
Drog utilizes gamification, which involves integrating game-like elements into non-game contexts, to create a more engaging learning experience. This method has proven effective in educational settings, particularly in fostering critical thinking skills among users. The Drog Project developed in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, “Bad News.”
Research indicates that participants who engage with the game demonstrate improved abilities to identify false information. A study involving high school students showed that those who played the game were better at discerning reliable news sources compared to a control group.
Drog's initiatives extend beyond gaming; they include workshops and educational programs aimed at diverse audiences, from schoolchildren to professionals. The project is also working on expanding its reach by translating the game into multiple languages and developing new interactive tools for platforms like WhatsApp.
However, there are ongoing debates about the ethical implications of teaching disinformation strategies, with concerns that such knowledge could be misused by malicious actors.
Misbar Discovers More Interactive Tools for Understanding and Combatting Disinformation
Breaking Harmony Square is an interactive game that focuses on election misinformation. Players assume the role of a Chief Disinformation Officer tasked with creating division within a community while gathering social media “likes.”
The game aims to expose players to the tactics used by misinformation producers, such as exploiting societal tensions for political gain. By engaging with these strategies, players develop a deeper understanding of how misinformation operates and learn to identify similar tactics in real-world contexts.
“Fake It to Make It” is a simulation-style game designed to immerse players in the role of a propagandist who creates and disseminates fake news for profit. Developed by Amanda Warner, the game provides a hands-on experience that reveals the mechanics behind misinformation and its emotional targeting strategies, ultimately aiming to foster critical thinking about the news players encounter online.
Players start by selecting a financial goal and then engage in activities such as creating fake news articles or copying existing ones. The game emphasizes the importance of crafting believable content that evokes strong emotional responses, particularly fear and anger, to maximize reach and engagement on social media platforms. Players must navigate various channels to effectively distribute their content.
The game has gained traction among educators and journalists as a tool for teaching media literacy. Players are guided through various scenarios that reflect real-world dynamics of misinformation, allowing them to recognize and combat fake news more effectively. Reviews have described it as both “hilarious” and “terrifying,” capturing the rapidity with which fake news can proliferate online.
Also, Libertas Veritas is an interactive narrative-driven game designed to engage players with themes of misinformation and propaganda. The game focuses on the choices players make, which influence various outcomes, thereby encouraging critical thinking about the nature and impact of false information.
In Libertas Veritas, players navigate through a series of scenarios that challenge them to confront and respond to misinformation. The game presents approximately fifteen possible endings, emphasizing exploration over competition. Players must decide which misinformation campaigns to engage with, highlighting the complexities of truth and deception in media.
The primary educational goal of Libertas Veritas is to enhance players' critical thinking skills regarding misinformation. By interacting with different scenarios, players learn to identify various types of false information and understand their societal impacts. This approach aligns with broader educational strategies that utilize narrative and gameplay to foster media literacy and resilience against misinformation.
The Challenge of Combating Misinformation on Online Platforms
Online gaming platforms are increasingly facing scrutiny for their role in the dissemination of misleading information. This concern is heightened by the interactive nature of these platforms, which can facilitate the spread of misinformation through various communication channels like text, voice messaging, and live-streamed content.
The lack of robust content moderation policies on many gaming platforms exacerbates this issue, allowing harmful narratives to proliferate and polarize communities. Many gaming companies benefit from the engagement generated by controversial content, creating a financial disincentive to implement stringent moderation policies. This has resulted in a significant number of gamers experiencing harassment in multiplayer settings.
While some platforms have begun to address these issues—like Discord and Twitch updating their community guidelines to ban misleading information related to civic processes—these efforts are often insufficient and lack transparency regarding enforcement.
Experts caution that while these gaming initiatives are promising, they face significant challenges due to the political nature of disinformation. The GEC's attempts to address misinformation through gaming may be limited by broader political dynamics and public skepticism about the effectiveness of such programs.
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