Loki's Loop

What happened to Taro? 

Here’s the plot. One day Taro is on social media and sees that a post on Killer Bunnies got a huge number of likes and shares. Apparently some people believe that these aggressive bunny looking creatures that attack and eat other animals exist. He is intrigued and uses an AI app to quickly generate a synthetic image of a Killer Bunny and post it. Later he realizes that it went viral and he got a huge amount of engagement. This has never happened since he opened his account on social media, so he is super excited. Feeling encouraged by this, he goes on and makes a couple more images and he is delighted with his increasing engagement and popularity. After making these posts, the social media algorithm starts to feed him lots of other posts related to Killer Bunnies. At first, he never believed that such creatures existed and figured that the whole trend was kind of stupid, but as he reads more and more posts, he starts to wonder if it could be true. He knows that images can be fabricated, but there seems to be a lot of personal testimonies, opinions from experts with different credentials, graphs with trends, and also conspiracy theories.

As Taro spends more and more time going through the posts, he begins to think, maybe these creatures actually exist? He finds a Discord server for Killer Bunnies enthusiasts and joins the community. Soon enough he gains recognition and becomes close with another member. One day Taro calls him to share some new evidence he has found. After listening to Taro’s excitement, his friend gets concerned and tells Taro to go off Discord for a while and go touch grass. Apparently, this friend does not really believe Killer Bunnies exist, but he likes the memes and thinks the community is hilarious, which is why he is hanging out there. Taro gets upset and decides that he is going to get real proof for the existence of these creatures himself to convince his friend. He checks into the AnteRoom hotel, and sets off for a nearby mountain to find the creatures at night when they are supposed to come out of their dens to hunt. He didn’t return. 

Why did we create this game?

People spend time in online communities for various reasons, from humor to that human urge for recognition. People create memes, make jokes, post outlandish stories to boost engagement and gain likes and shares. But sometimes things spiral out of control, and users get drawn into believing things without even realizing what’s happening. Social media platforms play a big role, with their algorithms designed to feed users more and more extreme content that they know will capture people’s attention (and profits for the platforms). This is how some people fall for conspiracy theories or become radicalized.

The game is a way for people to experience this in a fictional, safe, and fun setting. As with all of our games, the aim is for people to reflect on the story, consider if they know people who have had similar experiences (e.g., a health and wellness trend), and think about what they would do in future situations they find themselves in. 

Oh, and about Taro. He fell off a cliff and died. Catch the story here as reported by Japanese TV.