TakeBacktheTech Game [Tactical Activity]

This role-playing game was developed in order to help participants decide how to take action in local scenarios of online gender-based violence (GBV). Each game takes on one specific scenario of an online GBV example.

About this learning activity

This role-playing game was developed in order to help participants decide how to take action in local scenarios of online gender-based violence (GBV). Each game takes on one specific scenario of an online GBV example.

There are several different Scenarios to choose from, or you can make your own:

• Blackmailed to Go Back
• Trolled on Twitter
• Faked on Facebook
• Porn Pretender
• Disinformation to Discredit
• Watching and Waiting

To play, one Game Facilitator and three teams are needed:

• Survivor Teams A and B. Each team consists of the Survivor of the online GBV Scenario, and a set of four Advisors: Legal, Solidarity, Communications, Skills.
• A third team called the Public presents challenges for each Scenario and decides which Survivor Team chose the best strategies given each context.

Each Survivor Team will develop a Survivor persona to address the Scenario and Challenges presented by the Game Facilitator and the Public.

Survivors will justify their chosen first step to the Public, arguing why it is the best option for their persona and local context. The Public can question each Survivor about their choice. The Public then presents a new challenge in the Scenario from the Challenge cards, and Survivor Teams develop and justify new strategies for two more rounds. As Survivor Teams strategise, so does the Public, exploring possible bystander responses.

The Scenario concludes with the Public presenting a plausible ending to the escalating attack. To finalise, the Game Facilitator debriefs how each player felt in their respective role, to tease out insights, including regarding the role of bystanders and the importance of solidarity. If ever facing such a scenario themselves, with a friend or as a bystander, participants will be better equipped to consider possible response and prevention strategies from many angles.

Learning objective this activity responds to

This responds to all the learning objectives in this module.

Although you can opt for Survivor Teams to “play to win”, the real goal of this role-playing discussion is to help participants:

• explore and weigh strategies for responding to online GBV and understand that there is not just one response; responses are multiple and contextual
• appreciate the ways in which scenarios can escalate
• examine how different elements and actors are involved, and the importance of support networks

Who is this activity for?

This game can be participated in by participants with any levels of familiarity on online GBV.

Time required

1.5 – 3 hours

You can play several Scenarios or just one. Each Scenario should be played 2-4 rounds before starting another Scenario. The game entails a lot of discussion around strategies to mitigate online GBV, and how people respond to actions. There must be sufficient time to orient role players, play out the Scenario as well as unpack how people felt in each role.

Resources needed for this activity

• Printed cards for the game (details in the Cards section)
• flipchart paper
• markers
• tape
• stickers, poker chips, paper cut into small squares, or individually-wrapped candies, if using tokens
• Space big enough for teams to be able to have discussions.
• A table big enough to accommodate the Strategy Cards that each team will be presenting per round.

 

Mechanics - Players & Cards

The participants will be split into three teams:

• Survivor Team A
• Survivor Team B
• Public: presents challenges for each Scenario and decides which Survivor Team chose the best strategies given each context.

The Survivor Teams ideally would have 5 players per team. Each player has a role:

1. Survivor: Ultimately decides what strategy to play
2. Content Advisor: Provides advice to the Survivor about content-based strategies. The Content Advisor holds the Content Strategy Cards.
3. Legal Advisor: Provides legal advice to the Survivor. The Legal Advisor holds the Legal Strategy Cards
4. Solidarity Advisor: Provides advice to the Survivor relating to getting support from other people on the internet. The Solidarity Advisor holds the Solidarity Strategy Cards.
5. Skills Advisor: Provides advice to the Survivor about what she can do online. The Skills Advisor holds the Skills Strategy Cards.

The Game facilitator is an individual role. They keep time, read the scenario out loud and keep the game running smoothly.

This game requires a minimum of 10 participants and can easily accommodate groups of 30, but to ensure the quality of discussion and time limitations, it is best played with groups of under 20 people. Team size is adjusted depending on the number of participants. See chart below.

TOTAL PLAYERS	SURVIVORS	ADVISORS	PUBLIC	FACILITATOR
10	2	2 for each team=4	3	1
12	2	3 for each team=6	3	1
14	2	4 for each team=8	3	1
16	2	4 for each team=8	5	1
20	2	4 for each team=8	9	1
30	2	4 for each team=8	18	2

Cards

There are

• Content Strategy Cards (5 per Advisor; one Content Advisor per Survivor Team)
• Legal Strategy Cards (5 per Advisor; one Legal Advisor per Survivor Team)
• Solidarity Strategy Cards (5 per Advisor; one Solidarity Advisor per Survivor Team)
• Skills Strategy Cards (5 per Advisor; one Skills Advisor per Survivor Team)
• Scenario Cards (6 cards in total)
• Challenge Cards (31 cards in total; 5 per Scenario plus a "Make your own" Challenge card; a list of generic challenge cards can be found below)
• Role Instruction Cards (7 cards in total)

Mechanics - Strategy Cards

All games, no matter the scenario will have these Strategy Cards.

Content Advisor

1. Publish a piece of writing about the experience. Note the title of the piece, where it is published and where it will be distributed.
2. Contact the media about the experience. Note which media agencies you would contact and how you’d convince them to cover it.
3. Ask feminist bloggers to write about the experience. Note which bloggers you’d suggest and why.
4. Respond to attacks on social media. Explain the response, note what hashtag you will use and which communities will be your targets and allies.
5. Come up with your own content strategy.

Legal Advisor

1. Call a lawyer and ask them to file a lawsuit. Note which law/s you will cite.
2. Go to the police and file a report. Explain why you think the police can help.
3. Document the experience for later legal use. Note what you would document and how.
4. Submit an abuse report to a social media platform. Note which platform(s) and the policies that were violated.
5. Come up with your own legal strategy.

Solidarity Advisor

1. Ask people for support. Note what kind of support you want and who you will contact.
2. Create a campaign to highlight the abuse. Note the name of the campaign, target(s), allies and at least one action.
3. Ask your friends be your social media filter, documenting and deleting or hiding abusive comments from your view so you don’t have to see them.
4. Ignore the attack and carry on as usual. Note why this could be effective.
5. Come up with your own solidarity strategy.

Skills Advisor

1. Double check account privacy and security settings. Do you want to hide your friends and photos from public view on Facebook? Have you tried two-step verification for logging into your accounts? Note other steps you’d take.
2. Search for information or pictures of yourself online. What terms would you search for?
3. Go offline for a while. Under what conditions would this be a good strategy? What are the benefits?
4. Report the abusive accounts/content. Note which platform(s) and the policies that were violated.
5. Come up with your own skills strategy.