Does the Story Matter? Applying Narrative Theory to an Educational Misinformation Escape Room Game

Abstract

Rapid spread of harmful misinformation has led to a dire need for effective media literacy interventions, to which educational games have been suggested as a possible solution. Researchers and educators have created several games that increase media literacy and resilience to misinformation. However, the existing body of misinformation education games rarely focus upon the socio-emotional influences that factor into misinformation belief. Misinformation correction and serious games have both explored narrative as a method to engage with people on an emotional basis. To this end, we investigated how 123 young adults (mean age = 22.98) experienced narrative transportation and identification in two narrative-centered misinformation escape room games developed for library settings. We found that propensity for certain misinformation contexts, such as engagement with fan culture and likelihood to share on social media platforms, significantly affected how participants experienced specific measures of narrative immersion within the games. We discuss design implications for tailoring educational interventions to specific misinformation contexts.