CITY AND GAME: prototyping a pervasive game to combat hate speech online

The problem of hate speech online has been gaining ground in contemporary digital societies. In this article, in a first phase, we try to understand the rise of digital hate speech and we present some lines of action designed within the scope of the European project Play Your Role: gamification against hate speech, whose main objective is the implementation of a counter-reaction to this type of content, using video games and the idea of gamification as levers for positive behavioral reinforcement among the youngest.In a second phase, we explore the prototyping of a pervasive game, in an urban environment, guided by social awareness for this problem of online hate speech, transforming urban space into a playful interface. Based on a participatory approach, the aim is to transform the project’s target audience into a community of key actors.

The full article was written by Susana Raquel Costa and Bruno Mendes da Silva and published in Revista Húmus vol. 11, num. 25.