Break Out Dig The News

DIG THE NEWS

About

start

For those who want to play

This is a Choose your own adventure text maze game. Such games take you on a trip through a story told in a non-linear way. You’ll need to make choices and face the consequences. Let’s see how far you can get in the wicked and vicious world of creative news writing and disinformation. I hope, it'll help you boost your resistance to the nuisanse news which bombard us all the time.

For teachers

This is a Choose your own adventure text maze game, which can be used as a teaching tool in English language immersion classes at a C1 level. Such games take your students on a trip through a story told in a non-linear way. They will need to make choices and face the consequences. Meanwhile, they'll have to do some reading! ;)

You meet up with your boss in a quiet café.

That's a bit too shy. Even with a fake account, it'll take ages to convince the public through personally writing tweets. You'd better go back and make another choice.

introduction

DIG THE NEWS

Introduction

Map/missions

Characters

I guess, you've read some really badly written news stories. Stories which you find hard to dig as they don't make any sense. Funny enough, although far-fetched and outrageous, such stories have enormous popular appeal and are consumed by millions of people.

DIG THE NEWS

Introduction

Map/missions

Characters

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DIG THE NEWS

The Good Party member

DIG THE NEWS

Introduction

Missions

Characters

You've been a faithful party member for years. You've proved yourself as such in more than one occasion, and no way you'll miss the chance to get promoted to Head of Public Relations (PR) and Communications. It's time to show your full potential.

DIG THE NEWS

The Good Party boss

DIG THE NEWS

Introduction

Map/missions

Characters

It's a life or death situation we have here! Our party either wins the elections next month, or we'll be washed away from the political scene. And what's the worst, all these corruption secrets will blow into my face.

You've found this envelope on your office desk at the Headquarters of the Good Party. Open it!

A tip from your party's boss

What's going on? Have you seen the pre-election polls? It's high time you did something about our rating on the net! So, PLEASE, get to writing. Remember your past...

As a faithful member of the Good Party, last year you got involved in covering up some evidence for corruption. That was how you got your job in the PR section, and the manager position is vacant right now.

Nobody, but the party's president, knows about the cover-up and your involvement. It was him who got you the job in the Headquarters, skipping the official procedures. If the party loses the elections, he'll have to resign and, in a private conversation you had with him, it was made clear that, in such event, your secrets won't be kept any longer.

You are an expert on disinformation and manipulation of the public opinion.

HQ café

HQ café

Start posting on Twitter

How serious can this piece of news be?

Post this comment

April, 1st, 2021

Dig The News

Post this comment

Sonic weapons cause cancer

Post this article

April, 1st, 2021

Dig The News

Discart it as pseudoscientific

Do I need to repeat it again? I need a make-believer and a scare-monger!

Just outsite the Headquarters a guy in a hoodie passes you a message from the boss.

TRY another one

Your boss seems satisfied

Publish another article

HQ café

EU Parliament is discussing a new post pandemic law. Fearing the avalanche of mad partying after the end of physical distancing measures, MPs are concerned that EU citizens might not get enough sleep.

www.digthenews.com

Tendencies

Good Party

You think this is for real. Denounce the legislation bill as an attack on individual freedom.

Test procedure

Materials used: a watch, a spoon and a metal tray

Procedure:

This spoon test is to be carried out only during the daytime. Darken the bedroom and then lie down at the edge of the bed. Keep a metal tray on the floor beside the bed and hold a metal spoon over it. The individual should note the time and close their eyes as if to sleep.

When the individual falls asleep, the hand will loosen its grip over the spoon and it will come crashing down onto the tray, waking them up. Immediately look at the watch and note how much time has passed.

Conclusions:

If they have fallen asleep within 5 min, they are most likely severely sleep-deprived.

Schools and companies are to install rooms for carrying out the test on those suspected of late-hour-TV watching, browsing the Internet, or preferring to socialize instead of going to bed regularly at a particular time.

Source: Medical Life Sciences, https://bit.ly/3tqo9Sh

You've been promoted

As a Senior Public Relations Officer (PRO), you'll be in charge of the Good Party's ofiicial Twitter account. You are now only a step away from getting the job of Head of Public Relations and Communications. It all depends on how well you'll manage the account in order to get as many new followers as possible.

Congratulations!

PRO senior

The Good Party Big Boss

Date

June, 20th 20XX

certified

TRY AGAIN

I've warned you! if we needed an investigation journalist, we would have hired a proffesional, not you. your mission was to bug the public opinion, not to fight the fake news.

Good Better Best

Because Good Party Cares

Good Party Good News

Every news site needs a slogan. Choose yours. Remember, it's first impressions that count!

Nice! So take us somewhere new . Life's been kind of dull lately. To take control of people's emotions, they need to get excited in the first place...

121.2k

Escribe un subtítulo aquí

Crecimiento de seguidores

Choose your comment before posting it on the Good Party's news site.

WAtch the video

You know that an image is worth a thousand words.

Choose a gif for your tweet.

Fuente

You know that an image is worth a thousand words.

Choose a gif for your tweet.

Fuente

You know that an image is worth a thousand words.

Choose a gif for your tweet.

Fuente

Kudos for the choice!

The sound of a baby cry captures attention in a way that few other sounds in the environment do. It seems that our brains are made this way. So, if you want somebody to get alert, just show them a picture of a kid crying. Everybody will react! Our popularity is growing by thousands of new followers...

Kudos for the choice!

How clever! It's a fact the lady's pregnant. She's also wearing the right getup for a woman involved with a king. She seems nervious. Why? Does the scene prove she has a secret? Of course, not! But does the gif give this impression? Sure! You're getting each time better! Our popularity is growing by thousands of new followers...

Kudos for the choice!

How clever! It's a fact there is a baby. Somebody needs to take responsibility for her! Does the image of the ultrasound scan prove the King is invloved? Of course, not! But can the gif distract the public? Sure! You're getting each time better! Our popularity is growing by thousands of new followers...

There you go!

What's the point in feeding a homeless guy some fine meat? Just to make him go away when the camera is once off. What if everybody started doing the same? Much worse, this would have a pull effect. What are we going to do with all these new homeless flooding the city centre? The proof that people don't like this is that our popularity is growing by thousands of new followers...

There you go!

Of course she's right! Some people seem to have lost all sense of decency. They just come from everywhere, wearing all sorts of foreign garments. Some of them look like terrorists! If they look like terrorists, they might be terrorists. Logical! Or not? It doesn't really matter. Just keep wagging the dogs as it makes our popularity growing by thousands of new followers...

That's a losing card :(

Who cares about old people? Old people are burnt out and sad by definition. An old man crying would never break the heart of the masses. On top, he looks like a Hollywood actor. Why would anybody pity a rich old man?

+info

+info

+info

+info

Last challenge

Before you make a decision, you'd better get well informed!

Twitter

NO WAY!

Trolling

#2

#3

Sock-puppet

#1

Twitter bots, also known as zombies, are automated Twitter accounts controlled by bot software. While they are programmed to perform tasks that resemble those of everyday Twitter users — such as liking tweets and following other users — their purpose is to tweet and retweet content for specific goals on a large scale.

Source: https://nr.tn/3uo8IeA

Though you don't think trolling is necessarily a bad thing, as it can also be used by comedians or socially involved people to freely express their opinion without fear of a jail sentence in some countries, it's actually walking on thin ice. Furthermore, what we are talking about here is a straightforward hoax. You don't want to go this way, as committing one offence brings the next, a slippery slope, which can easily take you to prison...

'Trolling' is the anti-social act of causing personal conflict and controversy online by deliberately inflicting hatred, bigotry, racism, misogyny, or just simple fighting between others. You either do it through:

• a sock-puppet account (a personal fake account);

• a Twitter bot (a type of malicious software).

The difference is in the scale of disinformation, as obviously a bot can act at a considerably bigger scale than a person.

Sock-puppet accounts are often made by a troll, pretending to be a third independent party, whose real objective is to manipulate public opinion by praising, supporting or promoting a person or organisation.

500,000

That's the total number of new followers you've managed to obtain!

Use a Twitter bot to get more followers

+info

#1

Last challenge

Before you make a decision, you'd better get well informed!

Trolling

NO WAY!

#2

#3

Use a sock-puppet account to get more followers

'Trolling' is the anti-social act of causing personal conflict and controversy online by deliberately inflicting hatred, bigotry, racism, misogyny, or just simple fighting between others. You either do it through:

• a sock-puppet account (a personal fake account);

• a Twitter bot (a type of malicious software).

The difference is in the scale of disinformation, as obviously a bot can act at a considerably bigger scale than a person.

Choose another Tweet

Aren't you tired of all these strangely dressed people? Who allowes them to ruin the beauty of the city centre? Beauty will save the world!

#

Your boss seems disappointed.

People have got enough worries how to make ends meet to annoy them with boring stuff.

Your boss seems delighted.

Your boss seems happy.