The online simulation Bad News encourages players to employ every known bit of bad journalism and build a large audience for their virtual media business. (Photo via cam.ac.uk)LONDON: Trolling, impersonating, demonising: these are just some of the behaviours encouraged in a new online game launching Tuesday in which young players become "fake news tycoons" - to counter growing misinformation. Researchers at Cambridge University have teamed up with a Dutch media collective to develop an English version of the game Bad News, aimed at inoculating people against the spread of so-called fake news. But recognising and resisting fake news doesn't require a PhD in media studies either," says Jon Roozenbeek, a researcher from Cambridge's Department of Slavonic Studies and one of the game's designers. The game, based in part on existing studies of online disinformation, takes its cues from actual conspiracy theories about organisations such as the United Nations, and about issues such as vaccines.

Source: Bangkok Post February 20, 2018 20:15 UTC