Game tests your ability to spot fake news—and it’s not as easy as you’d think

Factitious was designed as way to help people recognise what news is fake.

Spotting fake news can be hard with so much of it polluting your timelines and news feeds. But one game wants to help you brush up your skills so you don’t get fooled in the future.

The game, Factitious, was designed by former American University Fellow Maggie Farley and Bob Hone, a professor at the University. The game was created in the college’s American University Game Lab.

Essentially, the game uses a Tinder-like interface that has people swipe left or right to see if they can spot fake news. Swipe left if you think the article that pops up in front of you is fake and swipe right if you believe the sample article is real.

In Factitious, the game defines fake news as “stories fabricated for fun, influence, or profit, as well as satire, opinion, and spin”—not stories you don’t agree with (which is how President Donald Trump uses the phrase).

“Fake news is impossible to stop, so we wanted to playfully teach people how to recognise it,” Farley said in a blog post about the game. “But the game is fun to play in itself.”

With fake news proliferating wildly since the 2016 election, being able to spot it is essential for anyone who wishes to read factual news. Factitious helps you spot what stories are fake and even gives you a bit of a hint by looking at the source of the article (which is helpful to know moving forward).

by Andrew Wyrich on The Daily Dot