Mind Map
Values, Loops, & Arcs
Our team is still in very early stages, so we do not know if we are going to stick with this concept, but for our first crappy playtest, we are modeling our analog game after the real-world system of social media misinformation. We believe that most users do not know how to discern misinformation from facts, and we hope that our game can teach players strategies that can help them tackle this issue in their everyday lives. The issue of misinformation is incredibly important right now, given the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict. Many social media posts are biased and report only on information that support a certain side. This lack of transparency layered on with the emotional manipulation can be dangerous.
With that said, our primary value will likely be transparency. Users should understand where their information is coming from and why it is being shared. To achieve this, we must also implement the value of education. Transparency and education go hand in hand. In order to teach users how to discern between true and false information, they must understand where their information is coming from, learn, and implement a radar for misinformation.
Detecting the difference between real and false information could potentially be one of the loops in our game if we continue to move in this direction. Perhaps players can even accumulate a resource, such as credibility, to represent their arc or development throughout the game. As the player more effectively identifies misinformation, they can gain credibility. For the sake of fun and a plot twist, perhaps after players gain a certain level of credibility, they can choose to either spread true information or misinformation. There can be two roles, that no other players get to see and that have different end goals. This deception among players will add to the game aesthetics as well as continue putting players’ abilities to detect misinformation to the test.
