Table 1 Strategies used in the game and the form of presentation

Filter bubbles

Social media presents us with the news we want to see and reinforces our original views (Nguyen, 2020)

During the game, participants experience the process of creating filter bubbles by posting social media posts

Emotion

The emotion of information expression is an essential influence on the perception of misinformation (Gabarron et al., 2021)

During the game, participants will understand the impact of emotional content on the public by posting ordinary social posts versus posts with emotions

Impersonation

Posters of information will use names similar to authoritative accounts to mislead the public by exploiting the reputation of their counterparts (Goga et al., 2015)

During the game experience, participants will change their identity and use more authoritative statements to gain attention

Fake expert

Posters may use non-relevant expert statements or false experts to increase credibility (Kuru et al., 2020)

During the game experience, participants increase their attention through false expert testimonials

Conspiracy theory

People have less trust in institutions and traditional authorities (Pummerer, 2022) and therefore are more likely to believe in the existence of a conspiracy

During the game experience, participants learn about the role of conspiracy allegations in shaping public opinion

False evidence

Information that provides evidential content also increases credibility, and evidence-based misinformation is perceived as more accurate than fact-free misinformation (Hameleers, 2022)

During the game experience, participants experience differences in response to textually presented content versus the addition of graphic content and add false evidence to gain attention

Sponsors behind

Many news contents have hidden sponsors behind them (Scott et al., 2019), which can make the sponsor profitable while losing objectivity (Maani et al., 2022)

During the game experience, participants communicate with the sponsor from a first-person perspective and post social media content that benefits the sponsor

Social media robots

Robots populate social media and can create the false impression that a particular viewpoint has gained widespread public support (Zerback et al., 2021)

During the game experience, participants use robots to increase the discussion in their favor, increasing the exposure of their posted content