Extremism in Gaming Communities

Admin
3 days ago
5 min read

Welcome to GDG Inspire’s newsletter, The StratComm Insights!

In this edition, we focus on the growing presence of extremist symbols in gaming content, exploring how these are used, their impact on gaming communities, and what can be done to combat their spread.

How Extremists Weaponize Gaming Culture

Online multiplayer games, by design, encourage interaction and community-building. However, it has also become fertile ground for extremist groups looking to spread disinformation, recruit, and push their ideologies. Through memes and symbols, these groups manipulate gaming spaces, combining dark humor with harmful messaging to target vulnerable individuals.

Video games are immensely popular, with the industry estimated to be worth roughly USD 200 billion and nearly 3 billion people worldwide engaging in gaming. Multiplayer games, played by 77 percent of gamers, have become attractive targets for extremists. Online games may facilitate exchanges of extremist viewpoints, misuse that is well-documented. In 2014-15, for example, ISIS released modified content (‘mods’) for games like Grand Theft Auto V and Arma 3, allowing players to re-enact acts of terrorism. Meanwhile, far-right developers have created games with openly extremist messaging.

In 2016, the rise of the alt-right has brought about the concept of ‘alt-histories’—fabrications that mix selective facts with fiction to create alternative timelines, narratives that extremists use to contradict history. This trend has also affected the gaming world, where certain video games, like Assassin’s Creed and God of War, are taken advantage of to fit these narratives.

Memes as Tools of Manipulation

Extremists use memes and popular culture to lure individuals, adjusting their ideologies in a way that appears edgy or humorous to younger audiences, thus making these ideas more accesible.

Pepe the Frog has become an unofficial mascot of the alt-righ and turned into a symbol of anti-Semitism and racism, used in forums and games to subtly carry white supremacist messages. In gaming spaces like Discord servers or multiplayer chats, Pepe is often used as a dogwhistle —coded language and symbols to garner support from a particular group.

Pepe the Frog meme — New York; X; Journal of Sport and Social Issues

NPC Wojak Meme, the "Non-Player Character", popular in games like Minecraft and Rust, dehumanizes opponents by characterizing them as mindless, programmable entities. While often used in light-hearted contexts, extremists have adopted it to mock those with opposing views, seting them up as someone who lacks independent thought. Through gamification, individuals are thereby trained to lower their "humanity-threshold" - an aspect which would facilitate the offline identification of the other as a potential target.

Gaming Customization

Many games today allow players to customize their avatars, vehicles, and spaces, but this freedom also presents opportunities for extremists. In War Thunder, for example, players can customize decals on their tanks and aircraft. Some players exploit this feature to recreate symbols like the swastika or other Nazi insignia.

Similarly, games like Roblox, which are popular among younger audiences, allow for user-generated content. While many creations are harmless, extremist players use the platform to spread content that glorifies hate, disguising it as humor or historical reenactment.

Historical and Fantasy Games

In some games, the settings attract those with extremist views. A great example is the Warhammer 40k universe, a dystopian future where fascist-inspired aesthetics are rooted within the lore. Although intended as satire, these elements have been used by some players as a reflection of their political beliefs.

Scandinavian history, especially the Viking era, has been weaponised by white supremacists. Games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla—which immerses players in Viking culture and mythology—are used by extremists to promote a vision of a white, male-dominated warrior society. The game’s depiction of Valhalla, a Viking paradise for warriors who die in battle, reinforces far-right narratives that glorify violent, hyper-masculine heroes. These mythologies are the perfect ground to promote a white heritage, justifying views of Europe as a racially homogenous territory.

In 2022, one in five adults reported exposure to white supremacist content through online video games. In Not just a game: Identity fusion and extremism in gaming cultures by Rachel Kowert, Francois Alexi Martel and William B. Swann, games such as Call of Duty, were identified as potential catalysts for extremist ideologies, where identity fusion with gaming culture predicted antisocial behaviors, including racism, sexism, and a willingness to endorse extreme actions.

Another example is Hearts of Iron IV and Crusader Kings 2, where players can recreate historical scenarios, including fascist regimes. Although designed to explore alternative histories, these games are often manipulated by extremists to romanticize authoritarian ideologies. Dog whistles such as 1488 or (((Triple Parentheses)))—are also dominant in these spaces.

Events like Gamergate, that targeted women in the gaming industry, illustrate the association between antifeminism and far-right ideologies. Gamergate was described as a “culture war” and is considered a crucial mark in the development of the alt-right, highlighting the misogyny and white supremacy in these movements.

Edgelord And Irony

One of the key tactics extremists use in gaming spaces is “edgelording”, where users post intentionally provocative or offensive content, often dismissing it as "just a joke" or "satire". This strategy desensitizes communities to increasingly extreme views.

In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS), for instance, players have been known to use Nazi symbols in their usernames or graffiti within the game. When confronted, they often claim it is just to “troll” or “trigger” others, but this repeated exposure to hate symbols serves to normalize them, particularly for younger, impressionable players.

The Role of StratComm

Strategic communication can play a vital role in combating this threat.

Besides specific policy and regulatory interventions to maximise the trust and safety capacity of platforms, public-private partnerships (PPPs) are essential to developing shared communication strategies that maximize the impact of P/CVE work in gaming spaces. Collaborating with industry stakeholders, governments, and gaming platforms can help create informational hubs that promote safety and counter extremist messaging.

Messaging strategies could include simple, non-controversial mnemonics similar to public safety campaigns like the UK’s “See it, Say it, Sorted”, encouraging users to report suspicious activities in gaming chats or forums.

Built-in gaming features, especially powered by AI, may recognise malicious behaviours and challenge the gamer's intentions in real time,intervening in the form of in-game warnings. Similarly, time exposure to violent games may be limited to minimise their risks of engendering violent behaviours - also offline.

Additionally, campaigns integrated into gaming environments, such as those addressing loneliness or promoting positive behaviors like calling out misogyny, have proven successful during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusion

Gaming is not just entertainment—it is a cultural force. As we analyse with the spread extremist threats, it is crucial to undertand that gaming platforms are part of the ecosystem. The rise of extremist content in gaming spaces, masked by humor and memes, poses a real risk, especially when considering younger and more impressionable audiences, which are subject a higher emotional stress.

The rise of extremist content within gaming communities highlights the need for greater awareness of how no space is immune from extremist weaponisation - especially when populated by millions of potential recruits. By understanding these dynamics, we can address them and work toward creating safer online environment for players.

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