Video Games: Playing Both Sides on the Disinformation Front
Gamification of fake news is a powerful area that requires further attention from educators, researchers, and policy makers
Imagine you are sitting at home alone, bored and have no friends. While browsing on my phone, I came across an event where people were coming together to discuss a recent idea for a new cat park being promoted by the city. I decided to get involved because I didn't have anything else to do, but I was immediately drawn in and ended up taking part in a digital campaign to scrap plans for a cat park. After all, that public money should be used for better things, right?
What started out as a harmless endeavor soon turned out to be something much more sinister, with you now the central character. The whole disinformation campaign This is a much higher amount than some cats.
You have the chance to actually play this scenario yourself in a free online game. cat parkdeveloped in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State's Global Engagement Center and the University of Cambridge.
The creators of the game, which is available in multiple languages, say their mission is to educate the public about the opaque nature of disinformation and give them the ability to peek into the kitchen, so to speak. Creating misleading content And who might be interested in all of it and why?In other words, it means Promote digital literacy In a fun way – an increasingly preferred method of teaching and learning given the prevalence of digital consumption and short attention spans.
However, things may not be as clear-cut as the game creators intended.
double edged sword
In coaching players How to spot fake news and disinformation Games like Cat Park can also teach you how to create fake news and disinformation if you want to. Of course, this is an unavoidable pedagogical contradiction that ultimately comes down to each player's personal moral makeup.
Research published at Lusofona University (Portugal) found that while many of these games emphasize critical thinking and personal responsibility for educating people about misinformation through quizzes and role-playing scenarios, It turns out that virtually no games go out of their way to do that. It sheds light on the big picture.
Government platform regulation, effective fact-checking services, and issues that permeate public discourse beyond individual actions are not touched upon in these games. The reason for this is that these free mobile and browser games are often low budget to begin with, and some of these big problems are not that interesting or easy to understand, making it easy to get lost in the game's concept. This is because it cannot be converted.
Video games as a source of fake news
Many people are now hearing the message that misinformation is rampant online, especially on social media, blogs, video blogs, and questionable media. However, video games don't seem to get much attention when discussing this issue. And it's not unpopular.
Statista shows that Video games are one of the most popular pastimes 1.7 billion users around the world play games exclusively on their phones, and they're perfect when you're using your phone or laptop.
Video games therefore form an important part of the digital consumption taking place in the modern world. While they themselves can be platforms for disseminating disinformation and misinformation through various channels, the content created by game players can also be used to mislead the public. there is.
Nowadays, some video games are so realistic that they can easily be mistaken for video footage, which causes problems. Consider the following example. Footage of a war game called Arma 3 has been repeatedly posted on social media and even on Romanian television as footage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Experts said it was unlikely that this was the work of state actors, but said it was more likely. the manipulative tactics of online trolls, In many cases, they probably posted it online just to get attention. In fact, it has worked so many times that even journalists have been fooled. The problem is that video game content is freely uploaded and shared to YouTube, where anyone can find fodder for their next disinformation show.
There are other examples of similar tactics using video game content as disinformation. For example, a Russian TV host posted a map of Azerbaijan, which is said to have occupied Georgian territory. However, this fictional map was a screenshot from the game Age of Civilizations II.
The game isn't over yet!
The potential for video games to be used to promote government propaganda is well established, given the surge in popularity of war-themed games during times of conflict, and the US military and Hezbollah are has been used as a tactic to encourage conscription. Video games are also featured prominently in far-right subcultures in the West, with online multiplayer platforms often becoming hubs of social media and virtual meetings in their own right, bringing together different perspectives, rumors and narratives while playing. Now available for sharing. This may be due to heightened emotions.
The number of niche video games based on fake news shows that disinformation has become a common cultural touchpoint. At the end of the day, what's left for the general public is to pay close attention to video games as a whole and understand that video games, like any other online space, have evolved over time. It is outdated to think of social media solely as platforms for entertainment, as they have the potential to both educate and inform on a scale that we have always thought was unique to them.
