Qanon is fundamentally different from an ARG in that people actually believe that shit, and, as @anon61221983 pointed out, the game has real life consequences on people who never consented to be affected.
I find the central questions unanswered: what the US learn from ARGs that helps them deal with Qanon nutters and avoid similar shit in the future. My guess is: nothing, because the problem that people can be “gamified” into Qanon cannot be solved through more gamification, the appropriate response lies in an entirely different category: it’s about education, community, participation (economically and politically), fair distribution of wealth, social justice. Major obstacles: capitalism, a culture based on violence and revenge, exceptionalism, religion.
There’s also a significant difference in the order of magnitude of the impact. At the moment, I can’t imagine how 20 years from now Qanon will have a discernible impact on hundreds of millions of people. Maybe that’s hard to see from within the US, because the refugees from the aftermath mostly avoid the US, so there’s little chance to meet them around town and listen to first-hand accounts.
Qanon - much like people hallucinating about having been abducted by aliens - is entirely a domestic problem of the US, it is not a relevant phenomenon elsewhere.
That would be ignorance and batshit-craziness, and the Dunning-Kruger effect would indicate they’re unaware of that.
