Journalism in the Public Interest


The ProPublica Nerd Blog

Simulations Let Readers Experience Stories for Themselves






The game is called 1979. Created by Navid Khonsari, founder of iNK Stories, the game is based on the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Players select one of a few characters to play, and the game is played from that character’s point of view. In Khonsari’s video demo, a player took the perspective of a young protestor who has just seen someone shoot his cousin in the chest. The player is instructed to open up the cousin's shirt, so he used the touchscreen to push apart the buttons on the cousin’s shirt. He scrubbed the screen with his finger to wipe away blood. He held his finger on his wound to prevent more bleeding. But it’s all to no avail. No matter how hard his character tries to save his cousin, he dies.

Other characters are given different tasks. One character is asked to take a photo of protestors on a street. A photo of a protester yelling angrily, which the player takes using a simulated camera inside the game, returns an actual historical photo of that exact scene. In fact, the protest simulated in the game is based on historical photos, videos and accounts of what actually happened. Throughout the rest of the game, players see real pamphlets passed out in Iran, and listen to real recordings taken during the revolution.

Significant actions players take also influence what happens later in the game. For example, a character may need to decide whether to keep illegal contraband, which could mean going to prison if a police officer finds out, or if the player refuses to keep the contraband, the game may be played out without an object useful to the revolution. Each scenario is based on historical research.

Playing the game feels like watching a movie, except that you make all the important decisions. It’s engaging and it’s scary, and it’s a great way to learn.

So how can we use this kind of simulation game in journalism? Here’s an example: Imagine an investigative story that exposes labor violations, discrimination or unsafe workplaces that lets users experience for themselves situations that real people in terrible situations have to experience every day. Imagine making a simulation game to report on human rights violations, child labor, war, etc. Using this type of gaming, a user can face the same tough decisions virtually that our sources face in reality. Though it’s not a trivial reporting task to get enough detail to support data-rich, accurate simulations, it’s certainly worth doing. Reading about an injustice is one thing. Experiencing it for yourself, even in simulation, is quite another.

This is the second of three posts about the 10th Games For Change Festival. Read the first: What News Nerds Can Learn From Game Nerds, Day One, and the third: Four Games that Tackle Serious Issues.

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