ITU students take on fake news with video game
In only 48 hours, Saskia Joanna Rauhut, Giorgio Perri, and Ioannis Maliaras from ITU’s MSc in Games programme completed a video game that tackles fake news in a profound and thought-provoking manner. The game was developed at the “Truth, Lies & Democracy” game jam in Barcelona.
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Written 2 July, 2024 11:58 by Theis Duelund Jensen
Fake news presents a major problem in society not just because of the dissemination of misinformation and deliberate disinformation, but also because it undermines our trust in the media and our democratic institutions. According to data and statistics aggregator, Statista, over 70 percent of Europeans regularly encounter fake news, and only about 12 percent feel confident in identifying them.
Honesty and objective reporting aren’t always exciting or rewarding. We wanted the player to attempt that balancing act to see what happens.
Giorgio Perri
At the inaugural
Truth, Lies & Democracy game jam in Barcelona, young video game developers from around Europe were invited to address this problem creatively by making a video game about fake news. The catch? They only had 48 hours to do so.
“We’ve all participated in game jams before, and we’re used to working this way in our programme, so the time restriction wasn’t new to any of us,” says Saskia Joanna Rauhut, a student in IT University of Copenhagen’s MSc in Games programme. She participated alongside Giorgio Perri and Ioannis Maliaras, both of whom have just graduated from the same programme at ITU.
Competing against five other teams, Rauhut, Perri, and Maliaras secured a collaboration with game incubator, GameBCN, to discuss further developing their game – Truth is… – for a wider audience.
The truth is boring
Truth is… is a text prompt-based game in which the player writes social media updates and news reports about a looming natural disaster. The choice of words made by the player will affect the way the event will be interpreted in the game. Thus, Truth is… shows how the nuances of language radically alter a message. The same set of facts can spawn wildly different reports, and the player only has to change the wording slightly to turn an informative piece of journalism into a conspiracy theorist diatribe.
“The idea is to show how fake news is generated and spreads because of the emotional excitement it triggers. The whole concept of the game is that it stays boring and very heavy when you write a proper, source checked article or social media update. The soundscape and the user interface are scaled up dramatically when you instead write fake news,” says Ioannis Maliaras.
In that way the game underscores an important point about how we produce and distribute information in global as well as local networks driven by likes and reposts:
“Honesty and objective reporting aren’t always exciting or rewarding. We wanted the player to attempt that balancing act to see what happens. You can tell people about fake news and warn them not to share this and that, but in the end experiencing it yourself is more impactful,” says Giorgio Perri.
The game may be interpreted in different ways by the player but invites reflection and discussion about the fascination of fake news and the role we all play in the distribution and spread of disinformation.
Creativity and tight deadlines
In a game jam, game developers are tasked with creating a video game from scratch often in just two to three days. With very limited time available, the challenge is typically to come up with a feasible idea and develop a fully formed concept and game on that basis.
“We actually prefer working that way. Having a tight deadline means that you don’t have time to linger and worry too much about details. Once you have an idea you turn it into reality,” says Saskia Joanna Rauhut.
According to the three game developers, clearly defined roles are important to the process. They all have a programming background but currently work with different aspects of video game production. Rauhut wrote the story for the game while Perri designed the visual aesthetic, and Maliaras did the actual programming.
“We are trained to work this way applying a very rigid structure to the creative process. It may sound counterintuitive, but it is actually the best way to make a game and not get stuck in doubts and concerns,” says Giorgio Perri.
Or as Ioannis Maliaras puts it: “Limitations are an artist’s best friend.”
Watch a demo of Truth is at the Truth, Lies, and Democracy closing presentation and try the game out for yourself.
Theis Duelund Jensen, Press Officer, +45 25 55 04 47, thej@itu.dk