Serious games vs The Disinformation: Are educational games effective against malicious content?

Introduction: The so-called “fake news” refers to fabricated and misleading information presented as news, often intended to manipulate the opinions of a target audience. As this content is systematically disseminated across social networks, identifying and controlling it poses a significant challenge. Objectives: This study sought to evaluate whether a serious game about information consumption has the potential to change players’ perspectives on their behavior when encountering news in the online environment. Methods: Considering the motivational and emotional appeal of serious games—as well as their ability to facilitate learning across various subjects—we conducted a systematic mapping and developed a visual novel game with a focus on combating fake news. We also conducted a study involving 42 participants, administering questionnaires on information consumption both before and after they played the game. Results: The systematic mapping revealed that 10 games that included empirical evaluations assessing their effectiveness in teaching fake news identification, with all reporting statistically significant results. Similarly, our evaluation found statistically significant improvements across all 6 information-consumption self-assessment questions. Conclusion: The results of our evaluation and systematic mapping support the premise that serious games can enhance information literacy by improving users’ ability to verify content. It is worth mentioning that the costs of designing an educational game must be considered when comparing it to other instructional materials.