User:Tash/grad testplay2

Introduction (30 mins)

My research

• the initial promise: social media as a tool of democracy
• the reality: a gendered and political space which rewards misogynists, supremacists and extremists
• freedom of speech online as a gendered issue

"While facilitating freedom of expression, social media also encourages users to practice their freedom to hate, where individuals exercise their right to voice their opinions while actively silencing others."
Source: Lim, M. (2017) ‘Freedom to hate: social media, algorithmic enclaves, and the rise of tribal nationalism in Indonesia.’ Critical Asian Studies, 49(3): 411-427.

Collective Reading

• An Anti-Social-Media Art Project by Sarah Ciston

Sharing is caring (15 mins)

• 

  Profile: 'Account closing service'. Bio: 'Admin is a Muslim sister / Facebook, Instagram, Twitter / Payment after.'

• 

  'Anti-selfie zone'

• 

  'Not ready to cover your aurat? Don't worry, there's still space in hell'

• 

  Blurred women's faces on a popular Muslim account

• What hostile spaces or communities do you have experience with online?
• What are the things that stop you from engaging / speaking out / expressing yourself? Online or offline? https://pad.xpub.nl/p/deletecomment

The Game (1.5 hours)

A critical multimedia game, which invites you to role-play characters on a social media platform, with the goal of infiltrating and disrupting its more hostile practices and spaces. Composed entirely of found techniques, scenarios and language used by the world’s most manipulative trolls, buzzers and campaign operatives, this game asks you to rebel, and rethink your own relation to the medium.

How to play

1. In teams of 2, you will be asked to role-play characters and perform different responses to trolling on Instagram, as a mode of exploration and an act of resistance.
2. To begin, either choose out of the list of available game characters, or decide to create your own character.
3. Then, open a new account for these characters on Instagram. On mobile, go to Settings > Add Account > Sign Up with Email. Follow each other's accounts.
4. Once these characters are set, one team begins by picking a card from the first deck. All teams have 5 minutes to perform the action.
5. The aim? To get as much attention and engagement as possible. Points are rewarded for likes, conversations, flags etc.
6. There are 3 decks, each with a different level of difficulty. Make your way through all three decks.
7. The team with the most points at the end of the session, wins.

Test questions

1. Format? Cards or tactical handbook?
2. Characters? Rather given or build yourself? What would make them more interesting?

Rules

• Stay in character
• Always say yes!
• Always screenshot your engagements in order of play
• Always tag / mention the game's main profile in your posts & comments, this way we can document your actions @raksasi1

Documentation (20 mins)

1. Evaluation pad: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/tash-testplay02
2. Each team should request profile data from Instagram. These will be sent as json files to the profile's email address. I will collect them for archiving on the wiki.
3. Send your screenshots to +31626791044 or tashberting@gmail.com
4. The raksasi1 account will aggregate all player's activities. This account will be scraped via an automated script, and the results will be archived on the wiki.

Feedback from players

	Hardest action to perform & why?	Easiest action to perform & why?	What surprised you?	What was new to you?	Feedback on characters & format
Team #1: Maartje & Shayan	In general, it was hard to find the right posts and responses that serve the goals. They are very specific.	Shitposting. Because it is done with humour, and doesn't have to make sense	It can be fun to troll.	It takes time to be part of this community, get the right followers, maintain a conversation.	On the format: To me, as a newbie to trolling, it's interesting to use the cards in order to be challenged in understanding different sides/points of view.
Team #2: Rita, Artemis	Artemis: I don't really feel comfortable with Profile Jacking, it feels wrong. Instead, picking a fictional character seems easier. Rita: Same, because we chose someone at random, and the person didn't do anything wrong to us. So it seemed morally wrong.	Artemis: I think Shitposting was super easy and fast to perform. Rita: Something to think about: maybe engaging with people we don't like is still engaging, and giving them attention.	Artemis: As a female character, we got a message which was advertisement for skin whitening from an Indonesian company. Rita: The amount of direct messages surprised me, we didn't have any pics, or followers but we got DM's. The more I posted the better I was feeling, not thinking so much about posting important content or funny things.	Artemis: After some time on the same profile, Instagram doesn't let you post comments any more. Don't know if there is a limit or so. Rita: We were blocked from Flat Tummy CO after commenting. We were banned very fast, after seconds even. Some scamming; four accounts DM'ed us.	...
Team #3: Alice, Paloma	We would say astroturfing because I think it requires more preparation beforehand in order to have a good strategy.	Grammar-nazi, because it's the most basic and easy to find examples of gramatical mistakes	Getting messages from bots (very similar to each other) even though we had a very new account.	Many of the tactics were new to us.	I think the card system is easier than the booklet for the game purposes, but it's still nice to have the booklet as a separate item (because it takes longer to read through but it's nice as documentation).
Collective notes	#Finding target accounts seemed to be the most difficult part of every action. For newbies especially, it's hard to find interesting, responsive accounts to engage with. #Set-up still takes slightly too long. Perhaps I need to set up the instagram accounts as well as the email addresses, and then just let people customize them as they wish... Already with follows maybe? #Time pressure makes things a little bit stressful at the beginning. 5 minutes is too short to play an action, 8-10 mins is better.	Actions for the LULZ are always easier to perform. These are good to break the ice, but also can become repetitive and trivial. It's important to also keep a sense of purpose and ideology in check.	Most were surprised that trolling could be a fun activity. For some, the game was also a space to try out different personalities or voices.	For most people, trolling (or using social media with any agenda at all) was a first. Only 2/8 had previous experience engaging with online fights / trolls.	#Almost all say that the role-playing and anonymity factor is a key aspect. They would never perform these actions, in this way, using their personal accounts. #More urgency and personal connection should be created. Mainly to avoid a descent into senseless shitposting. This could be remedied by giving more attention to the character making stage, and more time getting to know each player in the workshop setting. Also: during gameplay, more room for self-directed quests, on subjects that each player really cares about and wants to participate in. #Would be good to add: screenshots or other visual examples of trolling on the wiki or on the cards. For newbies, it's very important to give more clues on how each tactic looks like in practice. #All agree that both formats (handbook and cards) work stronger together. So perhaps it's not a question of picking one 'format', but about creating different game modes, which emphasize slightly different goals and strategies. E.g. Adventure mode (using the cards, more focussed on chance), Creative mode (picking from tactical handbook, more focussed on choice), Campaign mode (freeform, allowing each team to spend time on a self-directed quest)