Bad News is an online browser game by DROG. The game is a simple, click and choice-based narrative game. Your goal is to maintain credibility and gain followers while spreading fake news. No, you don’t have the option to craft real news stories. Instead, it teaches you how to identify fake news by showing you how to make it. The game works like a vaccine, exposing players to common fake news tactics, helping them see how disinformation spreads, and more quickly identify fake news. It’s more an exercise in learning media literacy than a game, but it’s still fun.
When it was released last year, it was just a theory. However, a study conducted by the University of Cambridge with 15,000 participants showed the game can increase “psychological resistance” to misleading content. Basically, by giving you doses of easily identifiable fake news, you can more easily recognize actual fake news. This improves the likelihood of people ignoring fake stories and combating manipulation with the truth.
How Does the Game Work?
In the game, you’re put in charge of your own news website. Your goal is to gain as many followers as you can, by any means necessary. Writing legitimate news isn’t enough to get you followers in the thousands (just look at this page’s Twitter profile). Instead, you use tactics like photoshopping images or buying Twitter bots to boost your message. What is your message? Does it matter? This is fame we’re talking about! You’ll exploit fear, anger, and partisanship to get as many riled up followers as you can. Who cares if it’s for fake news, propaganda, or conspiracy theories? Followers means more visitors to your site. That translates to money!
So, you point and click, choosing between a few options, and you bring followers to your site to enjoy your falsified content. The end result, if you’re good at it, will be more followers!
The Study
The game was part of a study by the University of Cambridge. 15,000 participants played the game. Before starting, they were given a baseline analysis of their fake news detecting skills with some sensationalist headlines and tweets. Some were real stories, others were not. The players then play the game, and are given a similar group of tweets at the end. As it turns out, by playing the game and learning the tactics these fake news sites news, they were better equipped to tell the difference between real and fake news.
A screenshot from the junior version of the game
Players were 21% more capable of detecting fake news after playing the game. Of course, this isn’t perfect. Many of the samples and the stories in the game itself are only mildly political. This means it doesn’t test whether or not it can pull you out of your ideological bubble. Politicized news often works by preying on your preconceived notions. It knows you want to hate liberals, so it gives you news that makes them seem horrible. The authors know that liberals distrust corporations, so it makes a boogieman out of GMOs. That’s the most dangerous kind of fake news.
So, while neither this game nor this study are perfect, they can most certainly help people learn the methods fake news outlets use, and how to detect them in their daily lives. Perhaps that’s the best first step towards preventing fake news from spreading anywhere.
Go Play
Simply put, I want you to go play Bad News right now. Do you have kids? Have them play the Junior version, to get an introduction to fake news. Everyone should have some basic news literacy, yet even my generation, those who grew up with the internet and are naturally skeptical, will share fake stories online. Usually, these stories are sensationalist articles, made to push people out to extreme opinions. Don’t let it work on you. Educate yourself about fake news, and learn to be more critical of what you read online. A great place to start is Bad News.
Sources:
- Bad News
- DROG: About Bad News
- Hadas Gold, CNN Business
- Katya Sanigar, William Shomberg, Reuters
- University of Cambridge (Media contact: Fred Lewsey)