𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐃: 𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐘
𝐀 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭'𝐬 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞
Understanding what your child is learning and how to talk about it at home
Your child's school is using an interactive game called Miss Informed: Ember Valley to teach digital literacy and internet safety. This guide will help you understand what the game covers, why it matters, and how you can continue the conversation at home.
𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝
West Virginia Senate Bill 466 (2024) required the WV Board of Education to develop a "Safety While Accessing Technology" (SWAT) education program for grades 3–12. These annual lessons are to specifically focus on the safety aspect of digital citizenship – including topics such as recognizing sexual predators, understanding the risks of "sexting" or sharing explicit materials, cyberbullying, and human trafficking prevention.
𝐒𝐤𝐲𝐥𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞
WVDE has partnered with Skyll to provide SWAT lessons for 3rd – 12th grade students in a “choose your own adventure” story platform. The first course, “Miss Informed”, has been released for 6th – 12th grade students. “Miss Informed” is a six-episode animated story centered around a group of students targeted by online predators.
𝐀 𝐅𝐞𝐰 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞
• There are elements of this story that are sensitive in nature. The bill specifically mandates education centered around sexploitation, cyberbullying, and other difficult topics. In this course –
• Each of these situations are handled as delicately as possible through character conversation and images that imply what is happening.
• The emphasis of the course is on supporting the victims and helping them learn about resources to report and remove inappropriate material.
• This is a “Choose Your Own Adventure” story, but there are no choices that students can make that prevent (or cause) the actions of the secondary characters. The choice elements impact the student’s character only.
• If a student makes an “incorrect” choice, the story explains why that choice was dangerous and loops them back to try again.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞?
Miss Informed: Ember Valley is a choice-based interactive story designed for middle and high school students. Your child plays as a student at a fictional high school where an anonymous social media account called “Miss Informed” has been exposing students' secrets, fueling drama, and ultimately revealing something much darker: a network of online predators targeting young people.
Throughout the game, your child will face realistic scenarios and make decisions about how to respond. The game is designed to let students experience the weight of online decisions without real-world harm, so they can learn from mistakes in a safe environment.
The game takes about two hours to complete across six chapters, and it ends with review questions that ask students to reflect on what they learned.
𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐈𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭?
The internet has changed what it means to grow up. Today's young people face threats that did not exist a generation ago: sextortion scams run by organized crime groups, AI-generated voice cloning used to fake kidnappings, catfishing by predators who use stolen photos, and coordinated cyberbullying that can escalate in minutes.
Last year alone, over 36,000 children reported sextortion to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That number only includes those who came forward. Most victims stay silent out of shame or fear.
Schools are teaching this content because young people need tools to recognize danger, protect themselves, and know where to turn for help. Miss Informed delivers that education through story, which research shows is more memorable and engaging than traditional lectures.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞?
This game does not shy away from difficult topics. It is designed to prepare students for real situations they may encounter online. Here is what the game covers:
• Cyberbullying, including coordinated online attacks and hashtag campaigns against individual students.
Catfishing, where a predator impersonates someone the player knows to build trust and solicit photos.
Requests for explicit images and sextortion, where a scammer threatens to release intimate images unless the victim pays money.
A secondary character in crisis who is considering suicide after being sextorted. This scene is handled with care, including information about the 988 crisis line.
A character who is physically attacked at a party as a result of catfishing-related conflict.
Discussion of the legal consequences of creating or sharing explicit images of minors, even among minors themselves.
An AI voice-cloning scam where criminals use a few seconds of recorded voice to fake a kidnapping.
Copyright violation and its legal consequences.
Victim-blaming language directed at people who have been exploited.
None of this content is gratuitous. Each scenario is designed to teach a specific lesson about online safety, digital citizenship, or where to find help.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠?
The game is built around seven core learning areas. By the time your child finishes, they will have practiced making decisions in each of these areas:
Safe and responsible use of social media. Students learn to think before posting, to recognize when online behavior crosses into harassment, and to understand that actions online have real consequences.
Privacy protection. Students learn not to share personal information (like home addresses) with people they only know online, and to understand how public posts can be used by bad actors.
Copyright laws. Students learn that pirating software and using copyrighted content without permission has real legal consequences.
Open communication with adults. Throughout the game, students are encouraged to talk to parents, teachers, and authorities when something goes wrong. The game reinforces that asking for help is strength, not weakness.
Recognizing and reporting danger. Students learn to identify catfishing, sextortion, and other predatory tactics, and to report them using real tools.
Knowing where to get help. Students learn about real resources including the CyberTipline for reporting exploitation and Take It Down for removing intimate images from the internet.
Understanding the risks of sharing explicit images. Students learn that sharing intimate images of minors is illegal (even if you are also a minor), and that sextortion is a real and growing threat.
𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭
The game introduces students to actual help services they can use:
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988, available 24/7. For anyone in emotional distress or crisis.
CyberTipline (CyberTipline.org): The national reporting tool for online child exploitation. Reports go directly to law enforcement.
Take It Down (TakeItDown.NCMEC.org): A free service that helps people under 18 remove intimate images from participating platforms. Under the Take It Down Act, platforms must remove images within 48 hours.
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬
You do not need to have all the answers. What matters most is that your child knows you are a safe person to come to.
𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞
Ask open-ended questions that invite them to share what they experienced:
• “What was the most surprising thing you learned in the game?”
• “Was there anything that made you uncomfortable or that you want to talk about?”
• “Did any of the situations feel familiar, like something that could actually happen?”
• “What would you do if something like that happened to you or a friend?”
Listen more than you talk. Resist the urge to lecture. Your goal is to keep the door open so they will come to you if something ever goes wrong.
𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Sextortion is one of the fastest-growing online threats targeting young people. Criminals pretend to be peers or romantic interests, build trust, request intimate photos, and then threaten to release them unless the victim pays money. The shame is so intense that many victims never tell anyone.
Your child needs to know:
• This happens to smart, successful, well-liked kids. It is not a sign of bad judgment. It is a sophisticated crime run by professionals.
• Paying never works. The demands always escalate.
• They will not be in trouble if they tell you. The person who did this to them is the criminal, not them.
• Help exists. The CyberTipline and Take It Down are real resources that can help.
If you want to bring this up proactively, you might say something like: “I learned that there are scammers who try to trick young people into sending photos and then threaten them. I want you to know that if anything like that ever happened to you, you could tell me and we would figure it out together. You would not be in trouble.”
𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬
Catfishing is when someone pretends to be a different person online to manipulate or deceive. In the game, a predator uses stolen photos to impersonate the player's crush.
Talk to your child about:
• How to verify that someone online is who they claim to be (video calls, asking questions only the real person would know, checking with mutual friends in person).
• Why meeting someone in person who you only know online is always risky, even if they seem trustworthy.
• Why they should never share their home address, school name, or other identifying information with online-only contacts.
𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬
The game teaches that creating or sharing explicit images of minors is illegal, even if the person doing it is also a minor. This includes taking photos, forwarding them, or saving them. Many young people do not know this.
Have a direct conversation: “Sending or sharing nude photos of anyone under 18 is against the law. That includes your own photos. I am telling you this not to scare you, but because I want you to protect yourself. If someone ever pressures you to send something, that is not okay, and you can always come to me.”
𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐂𝐲𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠
The game shows how quickly cyberbullying campaigns form and how even passive participation (liking a mean post, not speaking up) contributes to harm.
Ask your child:
• “Have you ever seen someone get piled on online? What was that like?”
• “What do you think you would do if you saw something like that happening?”
• “Has anyone ever said something about you online that hurt?”
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐟 𝐌𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐌𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦?
Playing this game may prompt your child to share that something similar has happened to them. If that happens, here is what matters most:
Stay calm. Your reaction sets the tone. If you panic, get angry, or seem disappointed, your child may shut down. Take a breath. You can process your own feelings later.
Listen without judgment. Let them tell you what happened in their own words. Do not interrupt or jump to conclusions.
Thank them for telling you. Say something simple and genuine: “I am really glad you told me. That took courage.”
Reassure them it is not their fault. If they were catfished, sextorted, or pressured, they were the victim of a crime. Make sure they know you see it that way.
Do not take their phone away as punishment. This is often a parent's instinct, but it backfires. It teaches your child that telling you leads to losing their connection to friends and life. You want them to keep coming to you.
Get help. If your child has been sextorted or exploited, report to the CyberTipline (CyberTipline.org). If intimate images are involved, use Take It Down. If your child is in emotional crisis, call or text 988.
Follow up. One conversation is not enough. Check in over the coming days and weeks. Let them know the door is still open.
If your child is in immediate danger or crisis:
Call 911 for emergencies
Call or text 988 for mental health crises (available 24/7)
Report exploitation at CyberTipline.org
𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐓𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜
About Online Safety
• “If someone you only knew online asked to meet up, what would you do?”
“How do you decide what is safe to share publicly on social media?”
“Has anyone online ever made you feel uncomfortable? What happened?”
About Pressure and Boundaries
“Has anyone ever tried to pressure you into doing something online that you did not want to do?”
“How do you say no to a friend who is pushing you to do something?”
“What would you do if someone asked you to send them a photo you were not comfortable sharing?”
About Getting Help
• “If something scary happened online, who would you tell? Why that person?”
“What would make it easier for you to come to me if something went wrong?”
“Did you know there are hotlines and websites specifically designed to help young people with online problems?”
About Empathy and Bystanders
“Have you ever seen someone being bullied online? What did you do?”
“Why do you think people join in when someone is being attacked online?”
“What would it take for you to stand up for someone even if it was unpopular?”
𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝
These are the core lessons the game teaches. Reinforce them at home:
Never meet someone in person who you only know online. Even if they seem safe, even if you think you know them, the risk is too high.
Never share explicit images of yourself or others. It is illegal if anyone in the image is under 18, and images can be used against you.
If someone is threatening you online, tell a trusted adult. You are not in trouble. The person threatening you is the one doing something wrong.
Paying a sextortionist never works. The demands always escalate. Report it instead.
What you post publicly can be seen by anyone. Criminals use public posts to learn about their targets.
Pirating software is not harmless. It can introduce viruses and open doors to hackers.
Help exists. The CyberTipline, Take It Down, and 988 are real resources that are free and confidential.
𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬
For Crisis Support
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 (24/7)
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741
For Reporting and Removing Content
CyberTipline: CyberTipline.org (report online exploitation)
Take It Down: TakeItDown.NCMEC.org (remove intimate images)
For More Information
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: MissingKids.org
Internet Safety 101: InternetSafety101.org
Common Sense Media: CommonSenseMedia.org
Thank you for being part of your child's digital safety education. The most important thing you can do is keep the conversation going.