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War in Your Own City. Transformative Learning through Experiencing the Newsgame I am Mosul
Enschot,Renske Van Roth,Christian den Besselaar,Libby Van
Enschot,Renske Van
Roth,Christian
den Besselaar,Libby Van
Abstract
This study investigates whether people’s mindsets can be transformed (i.e., transformative learning) through a geolocalized narrative newsgame. An online 2 (agency: high/low) x 2 (personal relevance: yes/no) between-subjects experiment was done (n = 215) using the newsgame I am Mosul. The participants experienced the impact of war in a personally (ir)relevant Dutch city with or without the agency to make choices for the main character influencing the storyline. The results show a positive effect of agency on transformative learning mediated by identification and— through identification—transportation. Personal relevance positively affected identification.
Description
We thank journalists Frederick Mansell and Laurens Samsom for granting us permission to use their newsgame I am Mosul and giving us access to their source material. We also thank Dieuwertje Schipper who participated in this study for her Master’s thesis at Communication and Information Sciences at Tilburg University.
Date
2025-10
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Keywords
newsgames, interactive narratives, journalism, narrative experience, identification, personal relevance, transformative learning
Citation
Enschot, R V, Roth, C & den Besselaar, L V 2025, 'War in Your Own City. Transformative Learning through Experiencing the Newsgame I am Mosul', Journal of Interactive Narrative, vol. 1, no. 2. https://doi.org/10.62937/JIN.2025.KXBN7678
License
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess