One of the biggest challenges in teaching digital literacy is that the systems shaping our online lives are largely invisible.
Algorithms, social dynamics, and information flows operate behind the scenes. When educators try to explain these systems in traditional classroom formats, they often feel abstract or disconnected from how people actually experience the internet day to day.
Brooke and I began asking a simple question:
What if people could experience the dynamics of misinformation instead of just hearing about them?
That question became the starting point for News to Me, the first prototype game in our Critical Play workshop series.
The Design Challenge
Digital misinformation is not just about facts being wrong. It is shaped by social behaviour.
People share content because it is funny, shocking, emotional, or because someone they trust posted it. Often the decision to share happens long before verification.
To model that behaviour in a game, we focused on mechanics that could simulate common online habits:
sharing information without verification
trusting familiar sources over reliable ones
reacting emotionally to headlines
social pressure to agree with peers
possessing unique motives for what type of content we chase and why
Rather than trying to recreate the internet itself, the goal was to build a simplified system that still captured these behavioural patterns.
Building the First Prototype
The result was News to Me, a quick-paced tabletop card game that simulates the spread of information through a social network.
Players receive pieces of information and must decide whether to:
share it
challenge it
or ignore it
At the same time, they are managing their own credibility and influence within the group.
The mechanics are intentionally designed to create moments where players feel:
uncertainty
persuasion
peer pressure
the consequences of misinformation spreading
Because the system is physical and visible, players can watch the information move through the group in real time.
Our Hypothesis
The core hypothesis was simple:
People understand misinformation more effectively when they experience its dynamics through play rather than explanation.
Instead of being told how misinformation spreads, players would encounter those dynamics through the decisions they make during the game.
Initial Playtesting Observations
Early playtests produced some encouraging results.
Participants quickly began recognising patterns in their own behaviour. We saw players:
trusting familiar voices over verified sources
sharing information without checking it
reacting strongly to emotionally persuasive headlines
When those behaviours appeared during the game, they often triggered lively discussions afterwards. Players began reflecting on their own online habits with surprise and humour.
Those moments became some of the most valuable parts of the workshop.
What's Next
This first round of testing helped us validate the concept and refine the core mechanics.
From here, we’ll continue iterating on News to Me while developing the next games in the Critical Play series.
Outcome so far:
Prototype validated through workshop playtesting
Core mechanics refined through participant feedback
Play-based digital literacy methodology strengthened
Next iteration of the Critical Play series defined