Describe the creative idea

We specifically target primary school kids around 10 to 12 years old, who start to actively express their own opinion in public. And that’s the age group learning to master typing skills at school. So, we found an opportunity for this specific target group: Using typing game interface for digital literary education. Children can master the typing skill while playing the game and learn to act wise dealing with Internet trolls and fake news. While playing <TYPING HERO>, children will have to clear multiple stages and run into the 7 trolls that represent the 7 different types of Internet negativities kids need to know how to manage. Once they clear out all stages, they will be entitled as a “Typing Hero” and get a license to be an Internet citizen with their name on it. With this souvenir, children will remind the lessons and who they promised to be.

Describe the execution

[7 Internet troll monsters] To build the world of <TYPING HERO>, we made three different virtual villages that symbolize the Internet places where children visit on a daily basis: SNS, VIDEO, and NEWS village. And we created 7 different internet troll monsters based on the analyzed massive data of malicious comments on the Internet. For example, “Dr. Judgy Mask” is the one who leaves judgmental words on other’s appearance. And “Notorious Rabble Babble” monster is the one who spreads out unsourced rumors on the Internet. [Storyline built by digital literacy education experts] Also, we ran multiple advisory sessions with digital literacy experts to build persuasive storylines in which children can learn how they wisely deal with the various types of Internet trolling, for example, you need to avoid unreasonably hostile comments by clicking the block account button, and you can fact-check the fake news by three steps: check the source, check if it making sense, and not spreading unverified information. [Intuitive UI] <TYPING HERO> was designed for the children to learn digital literacy while they practice typing skills, so we basically brought design elements of the typing game user interface for the better affordance of our game. However, to clear the stages, the player has to use multiple kinds of interfaces, for example, to defeat the “Disss King” monster, you need to push the report button and pick the reason why you report, and while you clearing the stage of “Divider in Chief” troll, you have to click conflictive comments to remove out of other comments the monster said. Once all the stages are cleared out, the players write a self-declaration message that they will be a healthy digital citizen, and the player will get a printed license for digital citizenship.