Video Games to Counter Discrimination and Disinformation: An Educational Approach to Media Literacy

In recent years, discriminatory narratives linked to disinformation have fuelled hatred and prejudice, undermining social cohesion and increasing distrust in democratic institutions. These phenomena also affect young people, who are often ill-equipped to address them. As a result, educational policies on media literacy have been implemented, incorporating video games as a strategic tool to develop critical media competencies. Within this framework, this paper analyses the potential of video games as innovative tools in media literacy education and in countering discrimination and disinformation. The research examines 18 video games through four analytical dimensions: educational objectives, game mechanics, narrative strategies, and visual language. The findings reveal innovative patterns in educational game design and increasing sophistication in synthesising ludic and pedagogical elements, whilst also identifying critical issues such as technological obsolescence, the need for mediators, and the lack of systematic user feedback data, which limits comprehensive impact assessment.