Skip to content
1981
Volume 47, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 0810-2686
  • E-ISSN: 2517-620X

Abstract

This article explores how newsgames offer meaningful engagement during an era of news avoidance and the declining impact of traditional journalism. It examines the history and evolution of newsgames, such as and , which blend interactivity with procedural rhetoric to engage audiences with complex issues like global conflicts and social crises. Part 2 of the article focuses on the creation of , a newsgame addressing ambulance ramping developed through the University of South Australia’s virtual internship programme. Using a research-led practice methodology, the game integrates real-world data and ethical decision-making to enhance engagement with hyperlocal content. The study highlights how newsgames can bridge gaps in audience engagement, particularly among younger, digital-first users, by combining storytelling with interactive gameplay. Despite challenges such as technological limitations and resource constraints, the article advocates for newsgames as useful tools for contemporary journalism and education.

© 2025 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ajr_00184_1
2025-12-09
2026-04-14

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. 270 to Win (2025), ‘2016 Presidential Election Interactive Map’, Electoral Ventures, https://www.270towin.com/2016-election/interactive-map. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  2. 1000 Days of Syria Official Website (n.d.), ‘Home page’, http://www.1000daysofsyria.com/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  3. Anon. (2017), ‘The Uber Game: Can you make it in the gig economy?’, Financial Times, September, https://ig.ft.com/uber-game/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Anon. (2022), ‘The Climate Game: Can you reach net zero by 2050?’, Financial Times, April, https://ig.ft.com/climate-game. Accessed 10 October 2024.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Anon. (2019), ‘Dodging Trump’s tariffs’, Financial Times, April, https://ig.ft.com/trump-china-tariffs/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  6. Asraf, Z. (2023), ‘Games can do good journalism: Here’s how to make them’, Medium, 6 September, https://medium.com/digital-narratives/games-can-do-good-journalism-heres-how-to-make-them-257baf1ad77a. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  7. Bad News (n.d.), ‘Bad News: From fake news to chaos! How bad are you? Get as many followers as you can’, Bad News, https://www.getbadnews.com/en. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  8. BBC News (2015), ‘Syrian Journey: Choose your own escape route’, BBC News, 1 April, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32057601. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  9. Biggs, T. (2023), ‘Video games: Far from niche, four out of five Australians are gamers’, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 September, https://www.smh.com.au/technology/video-games/far-from-niche-four-out-of-five-australians-are-gamers-20230815-p5dwln.html. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  10. Blejman, M. (2017), ‘Newsgames rule’, Nieman Journalism Lab, December, https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/12/news-games-rule/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  11. Blood, D., Kao, J. S., Knoll, N., Kwong, R., Locke, C. and Rininsland, Æ. (2017), ‘How (and why) the Financial Times made The Uber Game’, Source, 25 October, https://source.opennews.org/articles/how-and-why-financial-times-made-uber-game/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  12. Bloomberg (n.d.), ‘American Mall’, Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/features/american-mall-game/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  13. Bogost, I., Ferrari, S. and Schweizer, B. (2010), Newsgames: Journalism at Play, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/8854.001.0001.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Byrne, R. (2020), ‘Two games that illustrate the dangers of distracted driving’, Classwork, 17 November, https://freetech4teach.classwork.com/2020/11/two-games-that-illustrate-dangers-of/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  15. Candy, L. (2019), The Creative Reflective Practitioner: Research through Making and Practice, Milton Park: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Chang, A. (2018), ‘College Scholarship Tycoon: A game of improving school ranking without discriminating against the poor’, Vox, 9 March, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/1/16526202/college-scholarship-tycoon-game. Accessed 28 February 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Cuadrado Alvarado, A. (2009), ‘Serious games as a tool of new journalism: Among ideology, information, and entertainment’, in EDULEARN09 Proceedings, 1st International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, Barcelona, Spain, 6–8 July, Valencia: IATED, pp. 1806–14.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Deuze, M. (2019a), ‘On creativity’, Journalism, 20:1, pp. 130–34, https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918807066.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Deuze, M. (2019b), ‘What journalism is (not)’, Social Media + Society, 5:3, https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119857202.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Downman, S. and Murray, R. (2017), Hyperlocal Journalism and Digital Disruptions: The Journalism Change Agents in Australia and New Zealand, London: Routledge, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315172637.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Edge, A. (2014), ‘Why Al Jazeera has launched its first newsgame’, Journalism.co.uk, 25 September, https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/why-al-jazeera-has-launched-its-first-news-game/s2/a562575/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  22. Energy Innovation (2023), ‘Energy policy simulator’, Energy Innovation, https://energypolicy.solutions/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  23. Espel, F. (2015), ‘September 12th: A Toy World – The first newsgame’, On Serious Games, 4 September, https://www.onseriousgames.com/september-12th-a-toy-world-newsgame/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  24. Ferrari, S. (2011), ‘The frightening, real-world strength of Channel 4’s “Sweatshop” game’, MediaShift, 27 July, https://mediashift.org/2011/07/the-frightening-real-world-strength-of-channel-4s-sweatshop-game207/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  25. Fink, K. (2019), ‘The biggest challenge facing journalism: A lack of trust’, Journalism, 20:1, pp. 40–43, https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918807069.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. GameJolt (n.d.), ‘Endgame: Syria’, GameJolt, https://gamejolt.com/games/endgame-syria/13401. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  27. Games for Change (2022), ‘Syrian Journey’, Games for Change, https://www.gamesforchange.org/games/syrian-journey/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  28. Gilbert, B. (2018), ‘The death of the American mall is perfectly illustrated by this crazy new game’, Business Insider India, 9 February, https://www.businessinsider.com/play-american-mall-the-game-2018-2. Accessed 10 October 2024.
  29. Gómez-García, S., Paz-Rebollo, M.-A. and Cabeza-San-Deogracias, J. (2021), ‘Newsgames against hate speech in the refugee crisis’, Comunicar, 29:67, pp. 123–33, https://doi.org/10.3916/c67-2021-10.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Grace, L. D. and Huang, K. (2020), State of Newsgames 2020: A Snapshot Analysis of Interactives, Toys and Games in Journalism and Allied Industries, Miami, FL: JournalismGames.com, https://professorgrace.com/documents/Newsgames_report_2020.pdf. Accessed 28 February 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Harmony Square Official Website (2020), ‘Breaking Harmony Square’, https://harmonysquare.game/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  32. Hett, D. (n.d.), ‘Sorry to Bother You’, itch.io, https://danhett.itch.io/sorry. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  33. Hoad, N., Burin, M. and Spraggon, B. (2019), ‘The Amazon Race: A news game about what it’s like to work at Amazon Australia’, ABC News, 27 February, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-27/amazon-warehouse-workers-game-race/10803346. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  34. Hopkins, K. L., Lepage, C., Cook, W., Thomson, A., Abeyesekera, S., Knobler, S., Boehman, N., Thompson, B., Waiswa, P., Ssanyu, J. N., Kabwijamu, L., Wamalwa, B., Aura, C., Rukundo, J. C. and Cook, J. (2023), ‘Co-designing a mobile-based game to improve misinformation resistance and vaccine knowledge in Uganda, Kenya, and Rwanda’, Journal of Health Communication, 28, suppl. 2, pp. 49–60, https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2023.2231377.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. itch.io Official Website (2024), ‘About itch.io’, itch.io, https://itch.io/docs/general/about. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  36. JoLT Initiative (2017), ‘Factitious: Spot fake news game’, JoLT Initiative, https://www.journalismgames.org/resources.html. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  37. Journalism Games (2016), ‘Bomb the Right Place’, 28 May, https://www.journalismgames.org/game.php?PID=480. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  38. Kovach, B. and Rosenstiel, T. (n.d.), ‘The elements of journalism’, https://www.tomrosenstiel.com/essential/the-elements-of-journalism/. Accessed 11 June 2025.
  39. La Molleindustria (2006), ‘The McDonald’s videogame’, La Molleindustria, https://www.mcvideogame.com/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  40. Lewsey, F. (n.d.), ‘Go viral!: Cambridge game “pre-bunks” coronavirus conspiracies’, University of Cambridge, https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/goviral. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  41. McKinney (2011a), ‘SPENT’, Play Spent, 31 December, https://playspent.org/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  42. McKinney (2011b), ‘SPENT, the online game about surviving poverty and homelessness, reaches its millionth play and invites Congress to accept the challenge’, PR Newswire, 31 August, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spent-the-online-game-about-surviving-poverty-and-homelessness-reaches-its-millionth-play-and-invites-congress-to-accept-the-challenge-128781258.html. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  43. Mello-Klein, C. (n.d.), ‘The rise of video games that use journalism to tell stories’, College of Arts, Media and Design, Northeastern University, https://camd.northeastern.edu/featured-work/the-rise-of-documentary-video-games-that-use-journalism-to-tell-stories/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  44. Merchán-Romero, J. and Torres-Toukoumidis, A. (2021), ‘Types of gameplay in newsgames: Case of persuasive messages about COVID-19’, Journalism and Media, 2:4, pp. 746–57, https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia2040044.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Morland, M. (2025), ‘Order! Order! Could You Be Speaker?’, The Times, https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/could-you-be-speaker-house-of-commons-bercow-xck6lxv98?region=global. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  46. Nelson, M. J. (2020), ‘Newsgames of the 2000s’, Mark J. Nelson, 19 May, https://www.kmjn.org/notes/newsgames_of_the_2000s.html. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  47. Newman, N., Fletcher, R., Eddy, K., Robertson, C. T. and Nielsen, R. K. (2023), Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023, Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Now Play This (2022), ‘The Redistricting Game’, Now Play This, https://nowplaythis.net/game/the-redistricting-game/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  49. Olson, D. (2023), Gothic War on Terror: Killing, Haunting, and PTSD in American Film, Fiction, Comics, and Video Games, Cham: Springer International Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Online Journalism Awards (2025), ‘The Waiting Game’, Online Journalism Awards, https://awards.journalists.org/entries/the-waiting-game/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  51. Papers, Please Official Website (n.d.), ‘Papers, Please’, https://papersplea.se/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  52. Parkin, S. (2019), ‘Playing at climate catastrophe’, Columbia Journalism Review, 20 August, https://www.cjr.org/covering_climate_now/climate-crisis-newsgames-latimes.php. Accessed 10 October 2024.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Petley, J. (2018), ‘The purposes of broadcasting: Revisited’, in D. Freedman and V. Goblot (eds), A Future for Public Service Television, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, pp. 141–5, https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9781906897710.003.0016.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Plewe, C. and Fürsich, E. (2017), ‘Are newsgames better journalism? Empathy, information, and representation in games on refugees and migrants’, Journalism Studies, 19:16, pp. 2470–87, https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670x.2017.1351884.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. ProPublica (2018), ‘The waiting game’, ProPublica, 23 April, https://projects.propublica.org/asylum/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  56. Ramping Rush (2024), ‘Ramping Rush: Ambulance Rescue!’, https://unisanewsgames.itch.io/ambulance-rush. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  57. Refugee Council of Australia (2023), ‘The refugee challenge’, Refugee Council of Australia, https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/the-refugee-challenge/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  58. Rodríguez-Urra, C., Trillo-Domínguez, M. and Herrero-Solana, V. (2024), ‘Hyperlocal journalism in the face of the advance of news deserts: Scoping review’, Media International Australia, online first, https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878x241265831.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Sicart, M. (2009), The Ethics of Computer Games, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  60. Siitonen, M., Uotila, P., Uskali, T., Varsaluoma, J. and Välisalo, T. (2019), ‘A pilot study on developing newsgames in collaboration between journalism and computer science students’, Nordicom Review, 40:2, pp. 143–55, https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2019-0038.
     [Google Scholar]
  61. Smith, H. and Dean, R. T. (2009), ‘Introduction: Practice-led research, research-led practice: Towards the iterative cyclic web’, in H. Smith and R. T. Dean (eds), Practice-Led Research, Research-Led Practice in the Creative Arts, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 1–38.
     [Google Scholar]
  62. United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC) (2025), ‘My life as a refugee’, UNRIC, https://unric.org/en/my-life-as-a-refugee/. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  63. World Without Oil (2007), ‘Home page’, World Without Oil, https://worldwithoutoil.org/metahome.htm. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  64. Xia, R., Kannan, S. and Castleman, T. (2019), ‘The ocean game: The sea is rising. Can you save your town?’, Los Angeles Times, 7 July, https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-climate-change-ocean-game/. Accessed. 28 February 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  65. ZKM: Karlsruhe (2016), ‘September 12th: A Toy World’, YouTube, 31 March, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st-utTjPOR0. Accessed 28 February 2025.
  66. Anon. (2025), ‘Visual and data journalism’, Financial Times, https://www.ft.com/visual-and-data-journalism. Accessed 28 February 2025.
/content/journals/10.1386/ajr_00184_1
Loading
It’s all fun and games: Contemporary newsgames and journalism
Australian Journalism Review 47, 173 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1386/ajr_00184_1
/content/journals/10.1386/ajr_00184_1
/content/journals/10.1386/ajr_00184_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): digital journalism; journalism-based games; news engagement; practice-led research; serious games; video games

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test