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Making a Game of the News
As traditional news media struggles to find a new method and business model for dissemination over the internet, some are suggesting that news-related games could be an avenue worth pursuing. Rather than using such games solely as entertainment, journalists could make some of their reports more educative and interactive, allowing readers to choose which threads of a story they would like to follow. Georgia Tech is currently running a research blog to better understand how games and journalism can interact.
"The point to consider here is that the two processes do not have to be mutually exclusive, and may even be complementary. Just a couple of years ago, we were wondering if the blogosphere was trivializing journalism; now, most of us, including traditional journalists, are willing to accept the fact that the two can not only live in harmony but also play off of each other. Similarly, online games could help break down complex topics, and stimulate audience interest in the more mundane ones."
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The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
Does this remind anyone of the news reels in the movie Starship Troopers where, at the end of each clip, it asked, "Would you like to know more?"
Of course, I thought hypertext filled this need years ago... Maybe I'm missing something.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
...but isn't the news mundane enough and catered to the lowest common denominator as it is? I mean, even after taking in account the bias?
Mike
Run around in Grozny, Ramallah or Waziristan while being shelled by the Russian, Israeli or American army!
Live and real-time, just download @XXX.com
I can't wait. Not that it's likely to be allowed.
It might bring home the terror that is "asymetrical" war.
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
Here's the game: listen to the hateful shit from MSNBC, the hateful shit from FOX, and then see if you have the ability TO MAKE UP YOUR OWN FUCKING MIND AN NOT TOE ONE OF THE TWO GOV'T APPROVED METHODS OF THINKING
A lot of journalists know nothing about what they're reporting. The more you know about something, the more you realize how wrong the news reporters are. And if they're wrong about that, what's to say they aren't also wrong about the things you know less about?
It's called "Spot the unbiased US news source."
I haven't won yet. Anybody got some cheat codes?
Your cabinet died of dysentery.
Would you like to play again?
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
It seems to me that the largest current problem with "the news" is quality. How is increasing the cost of presentation in the absence of improved investigation and analysis going to improve the quality of what is presented? This seems like yet another hopeful stab at using technology for the sake of technology with little or no regard to determining whether it is an appropriate question. News is information. If you want to understand how to improve the presentation of information, look up Edward Tufte, his work, his books and his curriculum vitae.
Rupert Murdoch & his ilk at the Tele-Virus Networks took this attitude to it's logical extreme. They played the game of ---> let's see how little we can invest in reporting and credible presentation of fact-based analysis and how much we can squeeze out of sponsors who care more about eyeballs than brain cells.
They won, we lost... (long live Walter Cronkite).
- every time McCain says "My friends", the GOP voter chugs
- every time Obama says "Let me be clear", the Dem voter chugs
- double each time Palin unleashes a chain of non-sequitors
- double each time Biden refers to a conversation he'd had that sounds suspiciously like something made up
Oh please.
As if the profession weren't largely "trivial" enough.
A Journalist is essentially this: a person with no education on a topic whatsoever and who likely already possesses an opinion of it is supposed to go out and write an informed, accurate, and neutral (or objective, whatever the standard is now) article on it for all the world to read.
To say that "journalists" screw this up more often than not would be far too kind. Ever read a science article written by a "journalist"? I mean, how many miracle AIDS cures have journalists written about, all hoping to get the big scope, with nothing at all behind them? How often do run of the mill journalists get tech news even remotely right? As a law student, every time I hear a journalist covering any legal news I groan deep inside because the odds are quite strong that at least half of the time they will get things wrong. And heaven help them if they ever, ever have to quote a statistic or challenge a claim of a remotely scientific nature.
It shouldn't surprise anyone that this is the case - journalism school is little more than half of an English degree with a few "ethics" and "media" classes thrown in. People don't make fun of Communications majors for nothing. How about a basic class on statistics so they could actually, you know, challenge someone on things like sample size or ask if an economic indicator is quarterly or annual? A basic introduction to jurisprudence so a reporter working in the legal field actually knows about procedure and the function of appellate courts?
Journalists want to be the conduit of information to the world, and for a long time they were simply because real, qualified experts weren't easily accessible. Now, if I want to read up on legal news, I'll read the blogs of a few law professors, who are often kind enough to point to other blogs holding different viewpoints. If scientific news interest me, I'll look to blogs by experts in a field for more information. And if I want to know about politics, I'll look to bloggers in general. That there is a bias in their reporting doesn't bother me one bit - most are entirely open about their bias, and finding the other side(s) of the argument is a trivial task. Journalists, on the other hand, retain or attempt to retain a false, ridiculous "neutrality" - a bizarre, mostly American, concept in a world where most major papers freely admit to their slant.
Now there are some great journalists out there, don't get me wrong. But good reporting is the exception, not the rule.
Journalism was a trivial affair long before bloggers came on the scene, and journalists have only themselves to blame.
What? Today's TV news isn't ALREADY a game?
Can't we just get right to the Dan "Fake But Accurate" Rather v. Glenn "Loudmouthed Twit" Beck cage match?
Anything beyond a historical quiz (like a Jeopardy format) is going to be childish and insulting... Unless its an 8 bit Dubya Bush Punch Out game.
Agreed
Who would want to play a game where around every corner is murder and mayhem, for real?
"Suppose you were an idiot...and suppose you were a member of Congress...but I repeat myself." Mark Twain
they cure AIDS 'n cancer 'n homosexuality 'n all.
Jacqui Smith: Expenses Raider?
Players could compete to claim the most on expenses (homes, fridges, televisions, diamond rings, porn, et cetera) on expenses without being caught by the News of the World.
Those using pirated Tinysoft signatures(TM) are a real threat to society and should all be thrown in jail.
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I for one like to get my news from such established, objective, concise, accurate, informative establishments like /.
What's this "karma hell" you speak off?
No really. The television news services are really only interested in whose been raped/killed/imprisoned, and when it comes to foreign affairs, they show the nasty stuff more than anything.
if ten people out of thousands in a protest start to fight, or do something like break windows, *thats* what they show, and they call everyone there anarchists. Honestly, it makes me sick.
A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
Latin american leaders (railing against the USA) are on drugs.
5 Houston children dead in swamped car, driver may have been on the cell phone (or on drugs)
Iran convicts US journalist of spying (Iran's justice system, on drugs)
Airplane passenger charged with a felony because he needed to use the restroom (Delta Airlines is on drugs, but I knew that already)
Milbank: Why is the left so angry? (cuz they're on drugs)
As you can see, some parts are clearly funnier than others, and that's the game.
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
As Michael Crichton said:
"Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect works as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward-reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.
"In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story-and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read with renewed interest as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about far-off Palestine than it was about the story you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know."
Squirrel!
Take the recent tea party protests. Fox was absolutely glowing and promoting them. CNN had a reporter arguing with a protester, trying to prove his reason for protest was baseless. Olbermann on MSNBC was calling them "teabaggers" in a derogatory sense in reference to the sexual practice.
I didn't see one instance of reporting that just laid out the facts. The editorial column has now expanded to be the entire newspaper, the network pushes a political ideology instead of just reporting.
This isn't exactly what the article seems to be proposing, but news games do already exist: http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/
- double each time Biden refers to a conversation he'd had that sounds suspiciously like something made up
You're trying to tell me that conversation the Billy B. had with Joey Denko at the gas station wasn't true. Is it too late to change my vote.
"Educate the mind but never at the expense of the soul."~Blessed Basil Moreau
Unmask a disloyal CIA agent and win a FOX News T-shirt!
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Intrade.com has been doing this for a long time. All markets are essentially games about the news, whether news of companies, sports teams, or world events.
You know that things are in a pretty shitty state of affairs, when the news channels seem to care less about journalistic ethics than a ****ing comedy show on a comedy cable channel.
A lot of US TV news is now humiliatingly bad. And it's syndicated abroad. It broadcasts to the world an image of Americans as dumb, and arrogant, and shallow, and ethically bankrupt, and lacking basic professional competence.
If you're old enough to remember when the old communist Soviet news agency TASS was regarded internationally as an object of ridicule for their tub-thumping pro-USSR editorial line, and when Westerners people used to shake their heads pityingly at the idea that the poor deluded Russians watched this crap and perhaps believed it ... well, since around 9-11 time, that's pretty much how the outside world has started to regard US news media - as being so far out of touch with reality that it made the originating country look like fools. It's become a national embarrassment.
The US news media is supposed to be one of the jewels in the crown of the US democratic system, with its independent journalists tirelessly working to reveal the truth and keep US society honest. It's supposed to act as the reality-check to whatever the politicians and interest-groups are currently peddling, and it's supposed to blow the whistle on political corruption or anything that appears to be undermining US democracy or the US Constitution.
But during the Bush years, some major news sources were competing so strongly with each other to see who could be more patriotic and more pro-government that you guys might as well have been living in Soviet Russia.
Eric Baird
http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/
News usually refer us as violent peole who use their games as simlation for mass murders... does that mean i'll be able to shoot their newscasters?
FINALLY!
Science news report. But there is worst than that : intentionally misrepresenting news. Need I mention the MMR scare ? The fact also that they never correct the stuff they get bad, is also a sign that at least the direction/editorial team don't care and target for the sale only. Seeing hown often that happen even on non-yellow paper for science, you can imagine how often that happens with politic. Case in point take anything controversial and look at the news on all side of the ponds and on various continent. You have to ask yourself if they are speaking of the same stuff..
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
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This made me laugh. My keyboard is coffee soaked now. McCain and Palin have made many personal sacrifices to support public policy. - you have to admire them for that at least. Adding interaction nearly always helps with understanding. The problem right now is that news stories appear quickly and often as not fade quickly. There are several universities developing software to extract angular information from normal photographs and patch that together into a 3D model. This should allow much faster development. So very soon when Obama wins the Nobel Prize, or Steve Jobs unveils the next iPod, You can view the event from any angle. Pity the next starlet that forgets her underwear when this technology becomes the norm.
15TW = 15,000 Nuclear Reactors. (Approx. one accident a month.)
Government supervision of news will keep it clean and pure.
The government controlling what you read, hear, and see about the world?
What could possibly go wrong?
I earned this achevement by using only words in Todays Wall Street Journal to get 5 words in a row in Buzzword Bingo! As a reward I have recieved a 1 week free trial of Wall street journal, as well as a coupon for 50% off a 3 month subscription! As an added bonus of one word being in a coca-cola article, I also get a 25 cent off coupon for a 2 liter of coca-cola! I can't wait to play again tomorrow!
All misspellings and grammatical errors in the above post are intentional and part of my artistic expression.
It is a somewhat liberal counter to Fox's right-leaning. Why we need yet another counter, I don't know, with CNN, NBC, CBS and MSNBC being firmly on the left.
But NPR is probably the closest thing to neutral we get, the evidence being that partisans on both sides complain about it working for the other.
Current Events for 100 Alex.
Duh.
Camping on quad since 1996.
Some network out there has to bring the european news where girls strip down while telling the news. Saw that once in amsterdam.
trivia
???
profit!
However, just because they make great games based on real news, doesn't mean that they have an easy business model that just prints money. If you're doing traditional sales, you have to worry about piracy. And if you're trying what's popular now, free web-based games, then you're relying on almost the same advertising model that failing to keep traditional news outlets afloat.
I know that my friends' Play The News platform basically simplifies the process of converting news into games, but I don't know if journalists and traditional media companies are receptive to adopting this technology. In fact, late last year, they had to temporarily stop producing new content for their platform. Not exactly sure why, but I can probably get them to comment here on Slashdot if you guys are curious.
Do I win anything?
We're doing this with BattleCell. (Risk on Google maps for millions of players)
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There are many variations, but the weather makes a good example. Say that you have cells in Florida. Now, suppose that the real-world Florida gets hit with a hurricane. Naturally, production rates of your cells in Florida will suffer.
Obviously, news can be applied in many ways to keep things interesting.
Since Big Media already plays games with the news, is it a stretch to make the news itself into a game? Guess who the biggest loser is? Hint: not Big Media.
Back in January of this year, a cool little game closed it's doors at http://www.playthenewsgame.com/ The idea was pretty simple - they present you with breaking news, or specific news stories that could have heavy bias etc, and then you guess what you think the outcome would be.
It was a cool idea, and I believe was done as a demo for the whole news-as-a-game idea, but it was really fun!
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One of us ImpactGamers here!
The article mentions PeaceMaker, but it doesn't mention PlayTheNews.. which seems much more relevant to the 'gaming the news' topic.
There are still a bunch of relevant games on the PlayTheNews website, so it is still worth checking out if you have not seen it yet.
http://www.playthenewsgame.com/portal/game.action?gameTurnId=246 (addressing bible translations and homosexuality)
and
http://www.playthenewsgame.com/portal/game.action?gameTurnId=188 (arguing if the drinking age should be lowered)
are a few of the more interesting ones.
I learned in writing school, never attempt to write about anything you do not know; for you will never make sense. I also learned; there are only seven strings (lines of thinking): mystery; calamity; treachery; violence; love; hope; success.
Stories framed around these seven strings, have been written in: all the languages of civilization; have been acted out in: the histories of civilization; and are additionally acted out by: individuals; groups; communities, in daily life throughout all living things on the planet. One day while reading the King James version of the mythologies; I found this:
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. [Daniel 12:2-3-4.]
Nothing new has happened on planet earth since Daniel; same old stories, just new back grounds: cops and robbers: western stile on horse back; eastern stile in automobiles, but still the the same old stories. Be it alien invasion; Judaic Christian colonization; even in our technology, the mighty computer; gets virus invasion.
So please do not complain about news reporters, being repetitive in their writings; it's old hat writing the same thing over; and over, and trying to make it sound different! You might as well ask the generals to use different strategies; or politicians to stop funding wars!
I haven't listened to it lately, but BBC World News was pretty good in the 90s.