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Play OverviewPlay Overview

Harmony Square (2020) is a text-based adventure game about fake news. You live in idyllic Harmony Square and are hired as Chief Disinformation Officer whose job is to disturb the square’s peace and quiet by fomenting internal divisions and pitting its residents against each other.

You choose a persona and make decisions on how best to subvert the community. As you post on social media you steadily work to cause conflict and arguments. You play on the side of people using media to scare and control, but the goal of the game is to expose the tactics and manipulation techniques that are used to mislead people, build up a following, or exploit societal tensions for political purposes.

As you use various techniques to cause divisions they get a first hand understanding of how to spot manipulation techniques in social media posts. The game responds to you choices through the headline ticker and number of likes you have accumulated.

This game was created as part of a study with results published in the journal Harvard Misinformation Review. The research behind the game suggests that this reduces their willingness to share manipulative content with people in their network. Over the course of 4 levels, players learn about 5 manipulation techniques commonly used in the spread of political media content: trolling, using emotional language, polarizing audiences, spreading conspiracy theories, and artificially amplifying the reach of their content through bots and fake likes.

Our examiner, Jo Robertson, first checked Harmony Square 2 years ago.
Kids not old enough for this yet? There are lots of games similar to Harmony Square. Here are some similar younger-rated games:

Play StylePlay Style

This is a Communication and Narrative game with Adventure elements. This is a single-player game.

DurationDuration

Play Time: This game will take between half an hour and 40 minutes to complete.

Age RatingsAge Ratings

Content Rating

This game has not yet been rated, but we anticipate it is likely to be rated PEGI 16.

Harmony Square was written with an audience in mind of ages 15 and up. The game contains minor references to mild forms of violence (including rude language on a fictional social media network, although no swear words are used), but doesn’t feature content that is likely to be perceived as graphically shocking. While the game does contain some references to real-world events, its scenarios are entirely fictional. Effort has been made to make the game as inclusive as possible, and it can be enjoyed by players from all backgrounds.

CostsCosts

You can only play this on older systems (Web Browser) but can usually find it second hand on eBay.

Harmony Square

Web Free
This game is free to play. There are no additional in-game purchases, loot boxes, adverts or subscription costs.

DetailsGame Details

Release Date: 06/11/2020

Price: Free

Out Now: Web

Players: 1

Genres: Communication, Narrative and Adventure

Accessibility: 0 features documented (Tweet Developer )

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Developer: Wijzijn DROG (@WijzijnDROG)


Taming Gaming Book Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships.

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