Pay For Play Lesson Plan

Digital Citizenship
Internet & Mobile
Privacy

Level: Grades 4 to 6

About the Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Duration: 1 ½ hours

Digital Literacy Framework iconDigital Literacy Framework icon

This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.

Overview

In this lesson, students discuss their experiences playing free online games and then learn the costs of these “free” games in the form of paying with money, sharing personal information or providing attention to advertising or branded content. Students then learn a variety of techniques for mitigating the risks and drawbacks of online games and communicate their learning by describing one of these techniques in video-game terms.

Learning Objectives

Key concepts/big ideas: Students will understand…

  • Media are constructions: Students come to see that "hype" and product placements are constructed marketing strategies designed to make them "brand ambassadors" and connect good feelings about a game with a specific product. 
  • Media have commercial implications: Students understand that every top-popular game site is a commercial venture where they "pay" with their attention or data even if they don’t spend cash.
  • Digital media experiences are shaped by the tools we use: Students understand that game architecture (the choice architecture) is intentionally designed to steer their behavior toward spending, such as by making characters look plain unless a player pays for personalization.

Essential knowledge: Students will learn…

  • Consumer Awareness: Students learn that "free" games are often "free-to-play" or "freemium," meaning they are commercial products designed to make money through advertising, upselling premium content, or encouraging players to pay for power-ups and "skip-aheads".
  • Privacy and Security: Students learn about the privacy risks involved in game registration, such as sites collecting personal information to sell to advertisers or using "cookies" and trackers to monitor user behavior.
  • Reading Media: Students learn to identify embedded advertising techniques, including "advergames" where the entire game is a brand promotion, and the use of branded mascots or characters to build "hype".
  • Media Health: Students learn to recognize how game designs—such as "the grind" (boring repetitive tasks) or "near-miss" animations in loot boxes—are used to trigger frustration or the desire to spend money.

Performance tasks: Students will be able to…

  • Use: Implement technical tools such as ad-blockers and privacy plug-ins to mitigate tracking and advertising; Practice safe habits, such as limiting the information shared in optional survey fields and avoiding connecting games to social media accounts.
  • Understand: Analyze and evaluate their favorite game sites to identify at least four specific monetization techniques, such as loot boxes, branded content, or in-game currency; Interpret privacy policies (with adult help) to understand what happens to their personal data.
  • Engage: Design and communicate a strategy for managing gaming risks by describing it in video-game terms (e.g., as a "power-up" or "tool"); Create original media by transforming commercial game concepts into their own physical board games, card games, or non-commercial video games using kid-friendly programming tools.

Home and School Connection

This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) are available in an easy-print, pdf kit version.

Lesson Kit