Chaos Corp: Troll Farm Simulator puts players in control of a disinformation agency manipulating a fictional Philippine election. By experiencing deception tactics firsthand, players develop critical thinking skills essential for identifying real-world disinformation. The game teaches digital literacy through provocative, immersive gameplay.
How would you describe your personal inspiration behind this game?
My work explores how interactive media can address complex societal challenges through experiential learning. With Chaos Corp., I wanted to confront one of the most pressing issues of our time—the global crisis of disinformation. The inspiration came from observing how digital interference increasingly threatens democratic processes worldwide, particularly in regions where social media penetration has outpaced digital literacy.
What makes this approach distinctive is the counterintuitive learning mechanism. Rather than telling players about disinformation, we place them in the position of creating it. By applying these nefarious tactics firsthand—e.g., sealioning to exhaust opponents with bad-faith questioning; context manipulation to falsely reframe genuine information; and sockpuppeting to mislead via fake identities—players develop an intuitive understanding of how these mechanisms function. This approach builds cognitive pattern recognition, so players will spot these coercive strategies when they encounter them in their news feed.
The Global South setting of the Philippines represents a microcosm of global disinformation challenges—a vibrant democracy with high social media engagement, emerging digital literacy, and documented cases of manipulation campaigns affecting political outcomes. These elements allowed us to craft an experience that, while satirical and engaging, remains grounded in real-world consequences.
What does this project highlight that other educational games have overlooked?
Chaos Corp operates at the intersection of gaming and civic education in ways traditional approaches haven't explored. Most game-based learning approaches to media literacy position players as defenders against misinformation, reinforcing the didactic lesson that teachers wish to convey—that lying online is bad and truth is good. Students interpret this as “chocolate covered broccoli”. In other words, it feels like school, and it’s not fun!
By subverting expectations and casting players as propagandists, Chaos Corp creates an immersive cognitive dissonance. Players simultaneously experience the strategic satisfaction of information warfare while confronting the ethical implications of their actions. This tension generates an impression that resonates on a visceral level.
The game highlights the systemic, corrosive nature of disinformation. Players experience how individual manipulation tactics can snowball into coordinated campaigns that erode institutional trust, polarize communities, and threaten democratic processes. By tracking these consequences through our "Chaos Meter," players understand disinformation not just as misleading content but as a destabilizing force with ruinous societal impact.
Can you tell us about your development process and approach?
Our development journey was a winding road. We initially built an elaborate election simulator, but it felt too complex and academic. The breakthrough came when we streamlined the design into a card-based system that stood on its own. This simplified structure became a stronger foundation for our gameplay, allowing us to more naturally incorporate narrative elements and media literacy pedagogy.
After much debate, we settled on “Chaos” as the game’s sole currency—reflecting how each small manipulation chips away at society's foundations. When information becomes unreliable, social fabric unravels. This conceptual clarity transformed our design.
The game centers on a dynamic map of the Philippines where breaking news events appear, prompting players to deploy specialized trolls with unique abilities. Players navigate a tense seven-day campaign, carefully managing their manipulation tactics while fending off increasingly vigilant investigations by intrepid journalists, like Gabriela Santos, (inspired by Maria Ressa), who embodies the game’s moral compass.
Our small, high impact team included Katrina Alvarez as our expert on Philippine media and politics, alongside exceptional Unity engineers, UX designers, and UI artists. The Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South provided crucial support, recognizing the game's potential across emerging democracies. We debuted at Web Summit Qatar 2025 and Chaos Corp. is now available to players around the world on Google Play.
What audiences do you most hope will engage with this work, and what do you hope will be their take-away message?
While Chaos Corp appeals broadly to mobile gamers fond of strategy games like Plague Inc., our primary focus is young adults navigating today's complex—and often confusing—infosphere. The game serves as a civic education tool, particularly in classroom settings where educators can use it to spark discussions about media literacy.
From a curriculum perspective, the game features a taxonomy of real-world disinformation strategies including deepfakes, character assassination, conspiracy theories, gaslighting, and astroturfing. Each troll in the player’s arsenal represents specific persuasion tactics—from the "Deepfake Deceiver" who creates convincing false videos to the "Conspiracy Crafter" who spins webs linking opponents to compromising viral rumors. Meanwhile, players experience firsthand how these tactics incrementally erode social trust through our Chaos Meter, which visualizes the societal impact of information corruption. The game's multiple endings mirror real-world consequences: achieving 51-75% chaos results in electoral victory but erodes social trust, while exceeding 75% leads to complete social collapse—exposing how morally bankrupt digital deceit ultimately harms everyone.
The game's design draws on educational research pioneered by James Paul Gee, which reveals how "embodied experiences" help players absorb complex concepts by becoming active participants rather than passive recipients. By casting players as “bad actors” in the story, we tap into the engaging power of roleplay, fostering situated learning where abstract concepts evolve into actionable insights. This approach helps players develop transferable media literacy skills—when young people encounter manipulation tactics in real life, they recognize patterns they've previously deployed themselves, bridging the gap between gameplay and civic responsibility.
Download on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.VisualUniVRs.ChaosCorp
Cinematic Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd3IBPVrW1s&t=3s
Gameplay Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxCX7oXHlco
