Exposure, Emotion, and Empathy, A Theory Informed Approach to Misinformation and Disinformation Behavior Change through Games Lindsay D. Grace University of Miami L.Grace@miami.edu Songyi Liang University of Miami sxl1399@miami.edu Abstract A growing collection of game based educational tools work to improve player resilience to misinformation and disinformation. The threat of such misleading information continues to threaten the foundation on which a myriad of high-impact decisions are made. This research aims to understand how to optimize the design of such game-based interventions. By conducting an analysis through the lens of two behavior change theories, the work to seeks to identify game characteristics for successful interventions in this domain. Using excitation and transportation theory, the work observes and recommends characteristics to improve efficacy for existing and future playable media in this behavior change domain. The conclusion is that an optimal theory informed game, may expose players to small doses of misleading information, elicit a negative emotional response to its appearance or a positive emotional response to its detection and align player empathies against creators and spreaders of misleading information. Keywords: communication theory, disinformation games, misinformation games, game design, fake news 1. Introduction The threat of misinformation and disinformation to wide swaths of society continues to grow. The ease with which misleading content can be produced is aided by the advent of generative artificial intelligence (Ahmed et al., 2022) , adding to an already problematic situation in which misleading information is easily amplified (Forbes, 2002). The result is mass confusion about even the most basic of facts (Kata, 2010). It is generally understood that helping information consumers readily identify unreliable sources can help slow the spread. Harmful or misleading information is typically divided into two categories, misinformation or disinformation. Disinformation describes sources that aim to provide inaccurate or misleading information by design. As Nemr and Gangware demonstrate, disinformation and its research trajectory are often linked to political propaganda and military strategies aimed at disrupting societies, communities, and morale (2019). Disinformation is initially broadcast to intentionally mislead and strengthened by rebroadcasting by those who may or may not have intended to mislead. Misinformation, alternatively, is focused on the misinterpretation of accurate information or the unintentional spread of unreliable sources or data. Where disinformation is focused on intent, misinformation is focused on interpretation. Disinformation is designed to mislead, and misinformation can be a product of design, misunderstanding, or incorrect interpretation of reliable information. It is generally understood that identifying the characteristics of either is expected to decrease their impact on society (Verstraete, Bambauer, & Bambauer, 2021). Hence, education-focused solutions aim not to identify sources for disinformation and misinformation but instead to provide people the ability to adapt to a changing media environment to understand their characteristics. Such work aims to improve identification to lessen the impact of both misinformation and disinformation on society. Game based tools designed as interventions have been created to help address this need. While an effective address to the endemic problems of misleading information is multipronged, many researchers aim to educate information consumers to diminish its effect. As a result, investigations, and investments in combatting disinformation and misinformation have increased (Biloš, 2019). The fundamental dilemma is that while access to information is at an unprecedented level, the ability to discern good information from bad has not kept pace. If misleading information is increasingly easy to produce, the hope is that educating people about how it is produced, spread, and made effective may limit its detrimental impact on society. The result is a myriad of theories and playful interventions that aim to Proceedings of the 57th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences | 2024 Page 5329 URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10125/107025 978-0-9981331-7-1 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)