Conspiracy theories deconstructed through ARG game design

grodog · Post November 19th, 2020, 10:47 pm

I thought this would be a good item to share here:

My summation: Interesting article about using computer game design techniques for sandbox settings laden with player agency, to deconstruct conspiracy theories through how exploration and interpretive and signifying agency is guided toward misinformation.

But I didn’t know anything about QAnon prior to reading the article (it was sent to me by Snthony Huso). Here’s some background if you’d like more context: Apparently QAnon is also a propaganda vehicle/game, which I wasn’t aware of, but it’s still an interesting design dissection: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon

Allan.

Necron 99 · Post November 20th, 2020, 9:07 am

Interesting article. Admittedly, I'm not familiar with QAnon, either, aside from the name being thrown around now and again I couldn't tell you much about it (he/she/them?). A quick google search reveals:

"QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles is running a global child sex-trafficking ring and plotting against US President Donald Trump, who is fighting the cabal."

Yeah, I'd say that qualifies as some pretty whacked out theories.

Ancalagon · Post November 21st, 2020, 1:12 am

Necron 99 wrote: ↑November 20th, 2020, 9:07 am Interesting article. Admittedly, I'm not familiar with QAnon, either, aside from the name being thrown around now and again I couldn't tell you much about it (he/she/them?). A quick google search reveals:

"QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles is running a global child sex-trafficking ring and plotting against US President Donald Trump, who is fighting the cabal."
Yeah, I'd say that qualifies as some pretty whacked out theories.

Yup. What a load of bullshit. That's some serious artardedness right there. With some folks, you just can't fix stupid. You can only hope to endure it or outlast it.

Necron 99 · Post November 21st, 2020, 10:56 am

We all know that conspiracy theorists have been around since, pretty much, forever. I think what we're seeing these days, is greater visibility and emergence of this line of thinking, a product of mass media and current technology. You can spend 5 minutes on a social media site like Twitter and realize how gawd awful such a medium is for the human condition.

That's not to say social media can't be a good platform for other aspects. Case in point, I do have a FB account but I have stripped it down to bare bones. I have very few actual "friends" (30 something maybe) on there who's posts I care to see, compared to other who have 100s or 1000s of "friends". Being able to keep up with long distance friends who aren't a part of a forum, like this, can be a great way to maintain contact. As for groups and such, any group of which I'm a member, is 99% strictly hobby related (gaming) or of similar interest (1980s throw back, music videos, scifi/horror/fantasy genre, etc).

Unfortunately, though, I find in most cases, social media does nothing but serve to give voice to everyone and anyone with a knee-jerk reaction. Other platforms can be, and are, just as bad, heck you can't even discount something as simple as a forum, either. For those of us who were prevalent on DF back in the early days of D&D 3.x, just look at the edition warring that broke out. Even something so simple as a change of a table-top roleplaying game led to constant online arguments and condemnation from both sides of the battlefield. In my experience, echo chambers and social bubbles breed intolerance and speculation, which imo, then breed conspiracy and irrationality.