Newsgame

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Newsgames, also known as news games, are a genre of video games that attempt to apply journalistic principles to their creation. They can fall into multiple categories, including current events, documentary, simulations of systems, and puzzle and quiz games. Newsgames can provide context into complex situations which might be hard to explain without experiencing the situation first hand. Journalists use newsgames to expand on stories so the audience can learn more about the information from in an immersive way.

This genre of game is usually based on real concepts, issues, or stories, but the games can also be a hybrid representation of the original research, offering players a fictional experience based on real-world sources. They can also be thought of as the video game equivalent of political cartoons. Miguel Sicart describes them as games that "utilize the medium with the intention of participating in the public debate".^[1][2]

According to "Newsgames: Journalism at Play," written by newsgame innovators Ian Bogost, , and , the authors define newsgames as “a term that names a broad body of work produced at the intersection of videogames and journalism.”^[3]

Examples[]

• #Hacked simulates the role of an investigative journalist who is working against a timeline to learn as much information about the Syrian War as possible.
• The Voter Suppression Trail is a simulation game which highlights the issues in the American voting system.
• The Good, The Bad and The Accountant players are the general manager of a city and have to juggle corruption.
• Syrian Journey puts players in the role of a Syrian refugee who just sold all of their possessions.
• NarcoGuerra, a game based on the War on Drugs and Mexican Drug War released in June 2013.
• Endgame:Syria, a game exploring the Syrian Civil war that started in March 2011 which was refused by Apple's App Store and created a debate around the role of games, news and their distribution as a result.
• Sock and Awe,^[4] a game where you fling shoes at George W. Bush
• Madrid,^[5] a game about memorializing the Madrid bombings.
• September 12th,^[6] a game about civilian casualties in the war on terror.
• Darfur is Dying,^[7] a game about the crisis of refugees in Darfur.
• Bacteria Salad,^[8] a game about the spinach E. colli contamination of 2006.
• Jogo da Máfia, a Brazilian game that explains how globalized mafia works.^[9]
• Filosofighters, a journalistic game that explains basic philosophy concepts.^[10]
• Snowden Run 3D, a game based on the events surrounding NSA leaker Edward Snowden
• 1000 Days of Syria,^[11] a hypertext-based historical fiction game timelining the first 1000 days of the Syrian conflict.
• ,^[12] an arcade game based on Breakout (Arkanoid) which describes the destruction of over 500 historical buildings in Moscow.
• HeartSaver: An Experimental News Game, April 2013 GEN Editors' Lab Hackathon, by Al Shaw, Sisi Wei and Amanda Zamora^[13]
• Budget Hero,^[14] a so-called "policy flight simulator."

September 12th[]

The format started with a game called September 12 by Gonzalo Frasca,^[15] published in 2003. In September 12, you are positioned in a plane in the sky, with its reticule set on a village in a Middle Eastern setting. You are searching for a terrorist and when you spot him, mission dictates to kill him. But the reticule is broad, and the village busy with regular civilians; women and children included, collateral damage is unavoidable. Of course you shoot when the terrorist is in a quiet area, however, launching a missile has the potential to disruptive and cause attention as it approaches it's target. The result may perpetuate a collateral damager, which, increases the number of terrorists due to its influence.

This marks the start of the format newsgames in which experience and commentary from direct experience is cited instead of news reports.

See also[]

• Immersive journalism

References[]

External links[]

• Journalism and video games come together as a new form of storytelling in Brazil
• Play the News: Fun and Games in Digital Journalism, by Max Foxman, Tow Center for Digital Journalism, February 17, 2015 - "Link" (PDF). (654 KB) - Video of the report launch on YouTube
• Games for Change - Newsgames category
• American University JOLT program - Inventory of Newsgames
• University of Miami JournalismGames.com - Inventory of 60+ Newsgames