In some cases, students who had roles of authority, such as members of government, public-health workers, or journalists, disseminated information about the outbreak that later proved to be wrong, often because they spoke too soon in response to public pressure or because new information later became available. “That showed students how science can change as you get new information,” says Brown, the former teacher who now serves as Operation Outbreak’s director of innovation and training. But the fluctuations in messaging often triggered doubt and malcontent among other members of the community.
Game organizers say that mistrust of officials, scientists, and journalists has only deepened and become more common in simulations post-COVID. “The speed of putting up a wall is much faster,” Brown says.
Participants are also more prone to divisiveness and unruly behavior. “At some of our schools, we’ve seen complete societal breakdown, anarchy, and militia,” Sabeti says. (And that was despite students’ taking the game seriously.) “These are things we hadn’t seen before COVID,” Sabeti says.
