Fighting the Infodemic, One Game at a Time

Fabricated and manipulated content. Bots and trolls. Clickbait, lies, and subtle framing. AI and OSINT tools. Maintaining a decent level of MIL has become a real challenge. And trying to educate audiences can be tough. Sometimes, asking them to check out two hours worth of really interesting blog posts and tutorial videos just won't do the trick. At this point, why not  invite them to check out a game?Mixing rules of play, point scoring and competition with learning content has proven quite successful (especially for younger audiences), or as a famous dictionary puts it: "Gamification is exciting because it promises to make the hard stuff in life fun." So here's a list of (serious) games that have something to say about bad, fake and real news, and the modern media landscape in general.

Adventures of Literatus

Developers: Caucasus Hack Pack / Media Initiatives Center / Koreez Games / USAID
Platform: Browser, Android

Adventures of Literatus is an educational hidden object game/point and click fantasy adventure. It is set in the fictitious kingdom of Informia, a once peaceful and harmonic place that is now in grave danger: The beloved Princess Veritas (behold the ticket names!) has disappeared, and there are rumors that she'll soon marry Manipulus, an evil foreign potentate determined to take over Informia. Players assume the role of Prince Literatus who has to go on a fact-finding quest to rescue his truthful lady–and save the kingdom from chaos and misinformation. On his way, Literatus runs into good, bad, and questionable media people–and has to serve a lot of MIL puzzles. AoL is a rather ambitious game with beautiful artwork and some clever ideas. It is, however, also a bit clicheed (beginning with the damsel-in-distress scenario) and not that easy to play on smaller mobile devices due to tiny fonts/objects and slightly overloaded screens. AoL originated at a media hackathon in Moldova (which was organized by the Moldovian Independent Journalism Center and Deutsche Welle Akademie). A board game version is in the making.

Bad news

Developers: DROG/University of Cambridge
Platform: Browser

A highlight in the universe of MIL games! Using a classic choose-your-own-adventure formula, Bad news puts players in the shoes of a fake news writer/populist/propagandist on a social media platform very much like Twitter, with guidance from an experienced disinformation "mentor". The goal is to get as many followers as possible while spreading stories and statements ranging from highly questionable to outright disgusting. Naturally, the developers are not recruiting staff for an evil media empire here–but want to "vaccinate" players against misinformation (which seems to be working). Two aspects make the game particularly interesting: 1) Players can't win if their posts become too crazy or out-of-touch with the audience. 2) Players receive special badges when they successfully master key elements of disinformation, like impersonating/discrediting/trolling people, spreading conspiracy stories, catalyzing anger/fear/hate and polarizing the public. At some point, the game will ask to take part in a study on fake news recognition–so your students are playing for science!

BBC iReporter

Developer: BBC
Platform: Browser

BBC iReporter is arguably the best and most entertaining MIL game out there at the moment. As a freshly hired BBC journalist, the player is in charge of covering a breaking news story – and posting (the right) updates to a live site/social media. In the course of the game, the hero needs to check out links and leads, talk to colleagues and experts, compile statements, verify photos, separate the wheat from the chaff. The scoring system takes into account the accuracy and impact of posts – and how long it took a player to publish them. A hip browser game first and foremost designed for teenagers, BBC iReporter is all about interactive videos, funny characters and easy gameplay. It also efficiently teaches players the basics of good and bad journalism in the age of social media.

Choose your own fake news

Developers: Pollicy Platform: Browser

Created by Kampala-based tech consulting and development organization Pollicy, CYOFN is the first MIL game with a distinct African setting. There are three characters (all from East Africa) and three storylines: Flora has found an interesting job ad on Instagram, Jo has heard rumours about an opposition candidate inciting violence, and Aida has received a disturbing anti-vaccination video. By clicking through a set of multiple choice answers, players can decide how Flora, Jo, and Aida should react to the news/information they're confronted with. The mechanics are simple (CYOFN is based on Twine), and the storylines are rather short, but the game features some very nice animated images and also provides valuable additional information on different types of mis- and disinformation. CYOFN is therefore a solid intro to verification/fact-checking in a non-Western context.

Cranky Uncle

Developers: John Cook / Autonomy Co-op
Platform: Android, iOS

Cranky Uncle is a simple, yet nicely designed MIL mobile game that tries to tackle the problem of (climate) science denial. It does so by thoroughly teaching players how certain people–like your dad's crazy brother–use an arsenal of questionable communication techniques in order to shoot down facts or create "alternative" ones. By asking multiple choice questions and commenting on examples, a game master (the proverbial "cranky uncle") presents all major methods that are currently being used to cause confusion and spread disinfo: Quoting fake experts, repeating logical fallacies, asking to meet impossible expectations, picking cherries, and selling conspiracy theories. In the course of the game, more details are introduced. For example, players learn about ad hominem and straw man attracks (as a subcategory of logical fallacies) or about the difference between anecdotal evidence and slothful induction (which are both a variety of cherry picking). At times, the game seems a little dry, but it also has great, effective jokes, like in the scene when Cranky Uncle is on an operating table, and the man next to him is holding a bone saw and says: "Relax. I have a bachelor in computer science." All in all, "Cranky Uncle" is a welcome and unique addition to the universe of MIL games. By the way: Creator John Cook, a Research Fellow at Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub, has also written an entertaining book on the subject of cranky uncles and science denial.

EU Vs Disinfo Quiz

Developers: EUvsDisinfo
Platform: Browser

A short, straightforward, multiple-choice quiz made by the East StratCom Task Force of the European External Action Service (EEAS). The game aims to boost resilience to disinformation by asking whether a specific social media post is "real news", "factual information", "disinformation", "misinformation", or "satire" (i.e. there are five categories). In order to come up with the correct answer–which is explained in detail right away-- users need to do some internet research (or take an educated guess).

Factitious

Developer: AU Game Lab/JoLT Program
Platform: Browser

Factitious is a simple, yet neatly designed “a or b” game that confronts players with (different categories of) “fake” and real news. They can swipe or click to label the content. Little info boxes will then tell them whether or not they’ve picked the right label and point out crucial details about the articles. Factitious may not offer a lot of variety, but it does a good job at conveying basic MIL skills, with a focus on thorough reading. The developers have expanded the game several times: There are now six game levels, three reading levels (medium school, high school, college), and a Coronavirus special edition.

Fake it to make it

Developer: Amanda Warner Platform: Browser

In this more sophisticated business simulation game, it’s the players’ job to run a “news” website that will actually publish anything to generate clicks and thus money (so they can afford that nice apartment). Populism? Smear campaigns? Conspiracy stories? Not a problem, as long as economic success is guaranteed. Unlike many other MIL games, “Fake it to make it” asks users to do a lot of stuff, like: picking a logo for their org, creating a website, curating articles, managing social media, and monitoring income. Unfortunately, the game mechanics are a bit clumsy, and the simulation can get both boring and frustrating. Nevertheless, FITMI does a good job when it comes to explaining the business models and strategies behind a lot of dubious news portals. The game was inspired by the (real) story of Macedonian teenagers who collected thousands of ad Dollars with fake news sites during the 2016 US elections.

Fakey

Developer: Mihai Avram and Filippo Menczer/Indiana University Platforms: Browser, Android, iOS

This rather basic game shows players all kinds of articles from all kinds of sources in a virtual newsfeed. They can then like, share, or fact-check (or skip) the items in question – and score points if they’ve made the right decision. And the right decision is, of course, to share/amplify the quality news and scrutinize the clickbaiters and fakers. Fakey is not exactly exciting to play, but a solid MIL exercise with constantly updated items. The game also features a leaderboard for those who want to get really competitive.

Geoguessr

Developer: Anton Wallén Platforms: Browser, iOS

Geoguessr is a popular geolocation/geographic discovery game that has been around for quite a while and can also be used for MIL purposes. Players are shown a still from Google Street view and have to guess the location where it was taken, based on nothing but visual clues in the picture (mountains, buildings, signs, licence plates, etc.). Geoguessr is neatly designed and feature-rich: There are tons of maps (e.g. random places all over the world, famous places, capital cities, etc.) as well as challenges and badges. Geoguesser is also a social media platform: Players can invite and compete with friends, join a league, build their own quizzes and share them. The game would be mandatory MIL education material if it weren't for the fact that it's not really beginner friendly: Geoguessr expects players to already know what they're doing. Those who have never analyzed an image and can't handle external tools will probably be frustrated soon, especially when playing against the clock. Access to Geoguessr quizzes and features is limited unless players get a pro account (which costs $1.99 a month).

Go viral!

Developers: University of Cambridge/UK Government
Platform: Browser

Go Viral! is a spin off/new iteration of the highly successful and effective Bad News (reviewed above), with a focus on the Corona pandemic. Once again, the (scientifically proven) concept is to have users "play the role of a media manipulator and uncover their tactics to learn how to resist them in the future": Pick an Avatar, share wild narratives, give people a scapegoat, offer easy answers, become the admin of the influential "not co-fraid" social media group, feed the fire–and cause national unrest before you can say knife. Another outstanding MIL game that's both disturbing and effective.

Grandma's Album

Developer: MilLab
Platform: Browser

Grandma’s Album is a geolocation mini game. Players have to look at old photos (collected by granny) and need to compare them to a selection of modern views that may or may not show the same location. While the game is fun to play and also provides some historical context here and there, it doesn’t explain much with regard to the how and why of geolocation. Furthermore, it remains unclear how grandma was able to collect authentic photos taken all over the Soviet Union in an impressive 70 year time span.

Harmony Square

Developers: Global Engagement Center (GEC) at the U.S. Department of State / Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Platform: Browser

Yet another adaptation/version of “Bad News”, “Harmony Square” was released by the U.S. government in cooperation with original developers DROG/University of Cambridge in late 2020. The game aims to “address the challenges of foreign adversarial propaganda and disinformation that could impact foreign elections”. It asks players to do the job of a “disinformation officer” who has been hired to pit people against each other and sow chaos in the fictitious nation of Harmony Square. There are four straight-forward levels that explore trolling, churning out emotionally charged content, amplifying ‘opinions’ by enlisting bots, fighting fact checkers – and escalating matters in order to divide the country over certain issues. While the game does a decent job at showing psychological mechanisms and strategies of disinformation, it ultimately feels very formulaic and tame, with jokes that try to not offend anyone.

Hate or Tolerate

Developer: MilLab Platform: Browser

This one is another MilLab minigame, but with a different focus: Players are asked to put together a balanced social media article on a school initiative for migrants that has brought several haters to the scene. The goal is to eventually publish a balanced, verified, non-populist post. MIL students can learn about the basics of fair reporting here, although the game is over way too soon and the choice of angel wings for the fairest editor might be a bit over-the-top.

Informable

Developer: The News Literacy Project Platforms: Android, iOS

A modern mobile quiz game featuring real web content, Informable lets players test their MIL skills in four different ways. They can play "Ad or not", "Evidence or not", "News or Opinion", and "Checkable or Not". There are three difficulty levels per category. Eventually, players can also unlock a mixup (or: real life) mode that features random questions from all of the categories. Getting proper accounts will let players save their progress and enter the highscore list. Informable is elegantly designed and fun to play. However, it's a pity the game doesn't provide any comments on the items that pop up while people are playing it, thus leaving them in the dark as to why their answers are right or wrong. It's only after finishing an entire level that they can see a review providing the crucial information.

Measure The Truth and Your Nose

Developer: MilLab
Platform: Browser

MTTAYN is yet another Milab minigame. It revolves around questions about fabricated and authentic social media content as well as popular propaganda techniques, with a couple of explanations interspersed. Depending on how well players do, they complete the game with a regular nose–or looking like Pinocchio at his worst. It's a pity the developers haven't added more questions yet. The really interesting but squeezed in propaganda part ("ad nauseam or false dilemma?") could be developed into a game of its own.

NewsFeed Defenders

Developer: iCivics
Platforms: Browser, Android, iOS

NewsFeed Defenders takes the opposite approach of games like "Fake it to make it" or "Bad news". The player's job is to maintain the fictitious social media site "Newsably"–and keep it clean of bad posts and clickbait. After picking an avatar and a scenario (e.g. "student life"), the player is facing a timeline with a collection of posts that can be investigated, commented on, upvoted, downvoted or ignored. Of course, there's also an option to add new posts. To win the game, players need to keep integrity (try to be accurate, transparent, trustworthy) and focus (some content is simply irrelevant for the audience). At the same time, there's the need to generate enough traffic–which makes the game more realistic. All in all, NewsFeed Defenders is a professionally designed business simulation with a decent flow. And even though the game can be a little dry and uninspired at times, it's certainly good for teaching younger students the basics of decent journalism and/or social media curation.

news.oder.fake

Developers: news.oder.fake
Platform: Browser or Instagram app (Android, iOS)

news.oder.fake is the only MIL/verification game on Instagram we're aware of–and currently only available in German. The approach is plain and simple: Every now and then the creators post an interactive Instagram story featuring a set of sociopolitical claims that players must label true ("news") or false ("fake") against a ticking clock. Statistics on what other people thought are displayed below the question and may–or may not–offer a hint. Correct answers and short explanations are presented after each question. The creators of n.o.f. also provide a linktree listing all relevant sources for the latest interactive story. While it's a great idea to try and bring misinfo awareness to a young audience on one of the world's most popular social media platforms, n.o.f. clearly has its drawbacks when it comes to a more appealing (and less restricted) game structure.

Quiztime

Developer: Julia Bayer/Quiztime team
Platform: Browser or Twitter App

This is another highlight (and exception) in the world of MIL/verification games. Quiztime is collaborative, Twitter-based, and always runs in real time! On every day of the working week (Mon-Fri), an OSINT expert posts a picture via @quiztime, accompanied by questions like: "Which street are we looking at here?", "When was this picture taken?", or: "Who used to live in the building on the left side"? In more experimental sessions, quiz hosts may also present a photo of a random page from a random book (Q: Who wrote this?) or a snapshot from an ice hockey game (Q: What was the final score?). Once the quiz tweet is out there, players join forces to investigate with web tools and use threads to explain how they've arrived at their results–if they're able to solve the puzzle, that is! While quiz time is mostly a (fun) challenge for the more experienced OSINT community, beginners can learn a great deal about verification and practical tools just by watching other players do their thing. There's also a Medium community for Quiztime. Fun fact: Game creator Julia Bayer is an innovation manager at DW, as is co-host Tilman Wagner.

Sourcing Games

Developer: Jan Tegze & team
Platform: Browser

The most geeky and plain MIL game on this list, "Sourcing Games" is a collection of quizzes for die-hard open source intelligence (OSINT) fans with a recruiting background. Typical questions go like this: "What was the name of the first company Ms. A and Ms. B worked for before they joined Ms. C to start their own business?" or "In which year did Convention X issue the t-shirt Mr. Y is wearing in this video?". To come up with the right answer, players have to do thorough research with real online tools. The game is relatively hard to get into and also tailored for a specific scene, but not a bad choice if students want to plunge in at the deep end of OSINT.

Spot the Deepfake

Developers: University of Washington (supported by Microsoft, USA Today, Sensity)
Platform: Browser

As the title suggests, Spot the Deepfake helps you recognize and understand synthetic media and other potentially problematic AV web content. Partly quiz, partly tutorial (with lots of useful explanations), the game also teaches players about so-called cheap fakes/shallow fakes (i.e. digitally manipulated content) and eventually asks them to tell a "fake" picture and video from a real one. Spot the Deepfake comes in English and Spanish and is probably your best choice if you want to give students an intro to the verification challenges that come with the omnipresence of machine learning, AI, and digital editing tools.

Troll Factory

Developer: YLE
Platforms: Browser

This one is another MIL game highlight: Short, well designed, and to-the-point. However, the multiple choice, click-through Troll Factory is probably not for everyone, as it is radical in order to be effective. An anonymous (and ruthless) boss tasks players with spreading anti-immigration content ("Do it!")–and he's already prepared some very ugly memes. Needless to say, the game is not about promoting racism, but about exposing the dreadful mechanisms of fabricated news, stirred up emotions, and bot armies (which players can enlist later on). Troll Factory uses extremely offensive (real) web content and teaches players an important lesson: Right wing agitators are organized and act systematically–which makes their campaigns extra dangerous.

Westport Independent

Developer: Double Zero One Zero
Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, MacOS, Microsoft Windows

Westport Independent is probably the most complex and most talked about game on this list. It's also the only fully commercial title (available from $0.99, depending on the platform). The retro-style, black and white media simulator is best summed up by its tagline: "A game about censorship, corruption, and newspapers". In an unstable, post-war country marked by the divide between the newly elected Loyalist party and rebel factions, players take on the job of editor-in-chief of an independent newspaper. Or more precisely: an independent newspaper that is in the last stages of being one. Editorial decisions–i.e. printing the truth, framing stories, or censoring them–will have all kinds of political, social, and economic consequences. Players have to think long and hard, and there seem to be no right decisions. While Westport Independent doesn't fit into the educational MIL game category 100%, it gives players a very good idea of what it's like to be a journalist in a country that has little to no press freedom.

(Note: Westport Independent is quite similar to the "The Republia Times", but was created by different developers, independently. As RT is less sophisticated than WI both in terms of design and concept, we decided to not include a review here.

Which face is real?

Developers: Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom/University of Washington
Platform: Browser

More reference than game, Which face is real? basically consists of two components:\

1. The minimalist quiz, which juxtaposes authentic and AI-generated images of people's faces and always asks the same question: Which is face is real?\
2. A very useful documentation of methods used to expose synthetic images as well as a description of the technology behind their creation, in this case: the StyleGAN algorithm.Which face is real? Is a good choice if Spot Deepfakes has been hashed and rehashed–or you're simply looking for an endless supply of synthetic image quiz material.

Do you know a game that's missing on this list? Send an email to innnovation@dw.com, and we'll amend this post.