Better Troll is a dark comedy role-playing experience that immerses players in questions of influence, survival, and the value of human labor in a post-human internet. Participants play employees of the last human-run online reputation management agency—better known as a troll factory—struggling to prove their usefulness before being replaced by AI systems that are faster, cheaper, and disturbingly persuasive.

The game unfolds through a series of absurd office meetings in which players are tasked with designing viral campaigns, manufacturing outrage, and maximizing engagement at any cost. As teams brainstorm ever more effective strategies, ethical fault lines emerge: how far are we willing to go to keep our jobs? Can manipulation remain “just work, ” or does it inevitably leak into who we are? What happens when friendship, intimacy, and care start to resemble marketing techniques?

Balancing corporate pressure, performance metrics, and tense inter-office relationships, Better Troll offers a hands-on understanding of contemporary disinformation and influence tactics. By enacting them from the inside, players encounter the unsettling mechanics of a system where attention is the primary currency and human empathy is both a tool and a liability.

This role-playing experience includes a board game called Better Troll Workday Simulator. The board game also works as a standalone piece. 

Graphic design of the Better Troll poster and the board game by Elisa Piazzi.

Number of players: 7-11
Duration: 3-4 hours
Setup: office space and a space for rest with two couches, speakers, and light controls

This project was originally commissioned and production-supported by For the Win, for The Side Quest for the Real exhibition in Geneva in December 2025.