Design Insights for Developing Deepfakes Awareness Games for Adolescents

This study addresses the rapid spread of deepfakes on social media and the particular vulnerability of adolescents to manipulated content, aiming to establish design requirements for gaming-based awareness interventions aimed at young people. Using a PRISMA 2020-guided systematic literature review across seven databases covering 2016 to 2023, the authors screened 481 records and retained 22 studies, most of which target K-12 students, with some addressing higher education audiences. The review's central contribution is a set of eighteen design guidelines for deepfake awareness games.

The included literature clusters around three themes: deepfake awareness, AI ethics and cybersecurity, and digital literacy. Most works are concept papers, tools, or curricula rather than large-scale empirical evaluations. Among the examples discussed is the Fakey news-literacy game, which improved players' recognition of mainstream content without reducing their ability to detect misinformation, a finding the authors cite as evidence that well-designed games can build discernment without fostering blanket skepticism.

The derived guidelines span multidisciplinary design, accessibility, gamification, ethical boundaries, and post-play assessment. Together they point toward games that combine instructional goals with engaging mechanics while respecting the ethical limits of simulating manipulation. The authors conclude that adolescents' heightened exposure to manipulated media makes such tailored educational interventions a pressing need, and that the field would benefit from further empirical validation of the proposed design principles.