PlayingNews Using Play to Understand the. Participatory Future of News.

Ben Norskov & Mohini DuttaAntidote Games

We co-founded.@helloAntidote..

Antidote

A design consultancy .that uses play to. .investigate &. .intervene in..complex.systems..`..

We co-founded.@helloAntidote..

Antidote

A design consultancy .that uses play to. .investigate &. .intervene in..complex.systems..`..

Agency Mapping

What impact can an individual have on a system?

.@helloAntidote..

Agency Mapping

Visualizing the human in systems allows us to understand them

.@helloAntidote..

Participation

Participatory News.@helloAntidote..

News is suffering from an over-participation problem

Lessons for Participation

But Play is inherently participatory

.@helloAntidote..

Lessons for Participation.@helloAntidote..

But Play is inherently participatory

Can Journalism learn about participation from Games?

Our Approach

We work with diverse groups of players

.@helloAntidote..

Structured Participation

Creates a valuable experience for participants and organizer

.@helloAntidote..

Unstructured Participation

Lack of structure gives participants no Agency, and organizers no value

.@helloAntidote..

Indonesia & Dice

Fun is subjective

.@helloAntidote..

Cultures of Play.@helloAntidote..

Co Design solutions!

It’s more durable, communicates better, and uses the player’s knowledge base, instead of ignoring it

Participatory Spaces

Make sure people feel welcome

Fit your content to their culture, not the other way around

Build a structure that allows for Player Agency

Have a specific goal that’s clearly stated

.@helloAntidote..

Participatory Spaces

If your space isn’t valuable to you or your participants, then change the rules of your space

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Social Spaces

Reddit Boards

Some are fantastic, they have kittens

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Reddit Boards

... and some are terrible

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Reddit Boards.@helloAntidote..

How do you setup societal norms in a virtual space?

Games and Rules

Games use rules to create a challenging landscape for players to extract agency and meaning

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Spaces of Engagement

● Referees?● Demonstration● Shill● Explain Motivations● Ask for Input● Give Specific Prompts

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Driving Force Story

Putting Managers in Drivers’ and Drivers in Managers’ roles allowed them to flip scripts on what their normal social spaces are

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Players

Playtests.@helloAntidote..

Playtests and Barnyards.@helloAntidote..

Player: Homo Interneticus

Internet Freedom

Radical Free Speech

Belief in a Techno-Meritocracy

Exposes Oppression!

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Internet Freedom of Any Data

All Radical Free Speech

Belief in a [Libertarian] ....Techno-Meritocracy

Exposes Oppression [with oppression]!

Playtesting Values.@helloAntidote..

Good Intentions...

/r/FindBostonBombers

Kony 2012

Anonymous

etc...

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Key Idea

How might we build platforms where the values of Homo Interneticus and journalists align?

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Truthmaking

Internet Origins.@helloAntidote..

Internet Barnyard 2.0.@helloAntidote..

Internet Barnyard 2.0.@helloAntidote..

Repeat = Truth

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

– Josef Goebbels

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Sharing = Truth

“If you share a lie big enough and keep sharing it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

–Cyb3r Goebbel$

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Journalism’s Goal?

Seek Truth and Report It*

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* From the The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics

Homo Interneticus’s Goal?

Seek Find the Truth you believe in and Report Share It

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Control + the State = Truth

“...The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” –Goebbels, again

.@helloAntidote..

What Now?

Propublica: Free the Files

Leveraging user’s need to be a part of the solution

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New Models of Experience

You never change things by fighting the existing reality.

To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

—Buckminster Fuller

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Thank You

playistheantidote.com | @helloAntidote

@bennorskov | @mohinidutta

.@helloAntidote..