“Nerve” is a 2016 movie exploring an online truth or dare game that users either play in or watch people play. The watchers have to pay to watch, and the players earn money for each dare they complete. The game collects vast amounts of data from players, including their bank account information. As the movie progresses, the dares become extremely dangerous and it is revealed that someone died in the game the previous year. The main character, Vee, first tries to go to the police. The police offer no help, and the watchers label her as a “snitch”. All of the money in her bank account is drained and she becomes a prisoner of the game. It then becomes Vee’s mission to stop the game, which proves to be difficult because the game has no creator; each watcher or player creates a new server as they join the game. So, instead of taking down one central server, her team has to convince every single player to log off before they can shut the game down for good. They do this by faking the main character’s death and sending a notification to all the users that tell them they are an accessory to murder.
Adding “Nerve” to the DCI curriculum would allow for the Digital Consumer theme to be further explored. The movie centers around how the consumers of the game interact with each other and the game itself. Students could explore the type of online currency used and the amount of data that the game collects from users. We have repeatedly discussed that online media often collects more data than is acceptable or comfortable with users; this game is an example of that type of media. Students could also discuss the role of the watchers and players in allowing these dangerous activities to occur, especially with the growing prevalence of online anonymity. All of the players think they are hiding behind a screen name until the end when their real names are shown and they are “accessories to murder”. This aligns with our continuous discussion of “incognito mode”, which isn’t truly incognito; data collection is so much more thorough than we could ever realize. The assignment for the movie could be in a debate format, exploring who the students believe is responsible for any injuries or deaths resulting from the game. Again, since the game doesn’t have a single creator, the blame would have to be placed elsewhere, which would be extremely challenging for students to discern. This is similar to when we discussed the responsibility of the death of Mercer in “The Circle”. With big companies and medias growing and allowing users freedom of speech and action, there is an increasing need for consequences to be defined.
