I've been working in the the disinformation and games space for 5 years, and recently it has exploded. When I started, there were a handful of games and my review of fake news games was one of the first overviews of the space - building from the research being done in newsgames. Since then we have seen a growing interest in this space, with an array of reviews and games now offered as well as interest from governments and companies there is a sense that games can help deal with disinformation. But do they work?
I get this question all the time. I tell people that I have made escape rooms, boardgames, and analyzed games in the space and the next question is - how does this stop disinformation?
I attended the Media Education Summit in 2022 and being asked if I could make a game that we could put in every classroom to help kids be immune to fake news. A bold request, but something that shows a growing desperation for answers. People are worried, frustrated, and scared - they want a solution.
Unfortunately, no. I cannot make a single game to stop all of fake news, and nor should anyone. Games can help, but we can't just make a game, slap on some cute graphics and call it a day. In fact, there is a growing body of research critiquing many of these games. I've shared my concerns: they have repeatable design patterns, structures that offer limited agency, and a gap in offering person-to-person conversation (among other things). Others have offered similar arguments such as a lack in examining how our beliefs and biases are involved and even the media literacy content makes a difference over time.
We don't want a game that is depressing, boring, or colourful graphics with fluff content. We need something meaningful, that asks us to think about why we trust information.
This is not necessarily a problem of games. Fact checking, while helpful, does little to change our minds from a long-term holistic perspective. The challenge that games have is that they are playing scared. The critiques above point us to the fact that the games being made are hesitant to let the player explore, to be reflective, reflexive, and, more importantly, critical.
When we play a videogame, we learn by doing. We try and we fail. While a tutorial helps, there is a balance between telling the player everything (like many of these games do) and having them figure it out. Think about a boardgame night. We could meticulously read a 30 page rule book before playing the game and understand a good chunk, but until we play it, until we move the pieces and mess up (subsequently having us check the rule book) we don't fully "get" it.
These games are in the same boat. Many of them are heavy-handed and one directional. From Bad News walking you through a story where your decisions don't really matter (though it is a well-written narrative), to the quiz game Spot the Troll having you barely "play" anything beyond answering questions. Look, these games can be fun (I made a somewhat outdated list of my favourites a few years ago), but we need to actually think about what elements of games work for discussing disinformation. We don't want a game that is depressing, boring, or pretty for pretty's sake. We need something meaningful, that asks us to think about why we trust information.
We already have a problem with some of the games that are out here disapearing. Servers go away, research projects end, and we need to wonder what the longevity of these games are. Should they be digital, physical, made for everyone or made for a few? As more and more people make games on this topic, we must be critical and reflective of what we are making. Not because we shouldn't do it, but to offer games that make a difference we need to evaluate how we actually make them. and why. We should be thinking about scalability, audiences, style, and the literacies we want our players to learn.
Disinformation put super simple are lies told to gain power. They involve deceiving others, retelling stories to pull at heartstrings, and targeting users and communities to spread a message. Guess what, games ask us to be deceptive, to hide our cards and lie about our intentions. They encourage us to tell a story that evolves through the decisions we make, and they ask us to be specific in how we use our actions and abilities. In short, disinformation and games share some literacies.
These are not necessarily "new directions" but are seemingly new to this design space, and one that I will be working in. I recently was awarded a Fulbright Grant to work with a team of researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle (The minds behind the misinformation escape room Loki's Loop) on making an intervention in this space.
Its going to be physical, agential, and built alongside a community of researchers, experts, and educators here. I've got 9 months to design and release it, and will be updating here at least monthly on my design work and research findings at this time. If you are interested in any of the above, in what I do, or want to learn more, stick around or even reach out to be involved. I'll be answering the questions I pose here and exploring new directions at the same time.
Let's be real. We can't stop disinformation, but we can try to improve how we inform people about it. I'm not here to make something necessarily "fun", but something that directly helps some people better understand how information is shaping our world. So stick around and share your own experiences with me. Disinformation is a global problem and requires a collaborative solution. So let's play!
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