Bad News- The Game
What it is: This is part research project, part game where students take on the role of a fake news monger who drops all ethics to build a media empire. This game is intended to help students better identify the tricks used to manipulate thinking. In the game, players earn badges corresponding to the tactics used in the production of fake news, like polarization, conspiracy theories, discrediting, trolling, and invoking strong emotion. Through taking on the persona of someone building a fake news empire, students learn how to spot the manipulation tactics. The game is built around the psychological concept of inoculation theory, where exposure to weakened doses of fake news tactics helps create resistance or psychological immunity against fake news.
How to use Bad News in the classroom: Bad News is an interesting approach to helping students understand fake news, influence, and manipulation. By actually taking on the persona of someone spreading misinformation and using these tactics, students become more keenly aware of how these subtle moves are used to manipulate people’s perceptions. This would be a great provocation for junior high and high school students to engage in before a deep-dive conversation on fake news, spotting manipulative media tactics and the ethics associated. It’s also a great discussion starter about social media followers, likes, and engagement. When students can identify how tactics are used to grow an audience or gain credibility, suddenly, some of those “stars” with gobs of followers stop being so impressive. Bad News is an interesting way to let students see “the man behind the curtain” and understand the mechanics of what is really at play in the spread of fake news. Media literacy is one of those areas that needs to be prioritized in schools with the flood of content that students engage in every day, it’s essential that we cultivate citizens who can critically think about what they are consuming.
Students can play Bad News solo, with partners, or in small groups. It is heavy on reading and responding to prompts, so keep that in mind as you decide how to pair students. The game itself takes about 20 minutes to complete. After playing, bring students together for a Socratic discussion about the experience. How was it easiest to deceive? What were the moments where you felt a moral or ethical dilemma? Where do you notice these tactics being used? If you were going to design a technology or system to combat fake news, where would you start? How do you see disinformation influencing public opinion? Which badge was the easiest to earn and why?
Tips: This game was designed in partnership with DROG and the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab at Cambridge University. They have done a great job of sharing the science behind the game on the About Page. More information for using the game in the classroom can be found here.
