ABSTRACT
Many people consider one of the first digital newsgames to be September 12th. The game depicts a Middle East city over which a reticle sits. The city is initially populated with varied civilians and the occasional terrorist, depicted as carrying a gun. But newsgames don’t have to be about a contemporary topic to be considered a newsgame. Around the same time as the rise of the newsgame term, other researchers and designers were championing the potential of a docugame. In the early days of digital docugames research, the focus was on authenticity of simulation. Some newsgame designs derive from turning a model, theorem, or hypothesis into a playable experience. These games or toys take something that is abstract and turn it into a collection of interactions that help players experiment with it. Another common approach to designing newsgames is to create a simulation that offers players a peek into the reality of its given subject.
