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Online gaming represents one of the world’s largest industries with over 900 million players and estimated annual revenues of tens of billions of dollars, according to European Commission figures.
This growth is not only attributed to the development of online games and communities, but also to game hosting and related communication platforms designed specifically for players and games. However, there is growing concern about the intersection between video games and violent extremism, apparently on the rise.
A European study finds that extremists and terrorists, who are often pioneers in the digital space, have new opportunities through games and related platforms.
During an event held in Athens in the framework of the GEMS project, which is part of the European Network against Video Game Extremism initiative, the latest concerns were vividly presented.
There are various ways in which online games can be aimed at radicalisation; there are games made by extremists that usually have similar content of a far-right nature. In other cases extremists exploit other major gaming platforms to get their messages across.
“The real danger here is that, through games, the barrier to violence becomes thinner. In two ways. First, especially games that are extremist in nature, they paint an image and a story in which there is an enemy. There’s this group of people, it could be the LGBTQ+ community or Muslims, foreigners, whatever. And it builds a story in which these people are a threat. They’re also presented negatively, and it’s okay to go after them. So, essentially, it’s a very effective way of indoctrinating and creating these feelings of hatred and hostility. And then there’s the idea of actually socializing people and normalizing violence. The problem is that they’re targeting younger and younger people. So we even have 12-year-olds recruiting other 12-year-olds. So we could definitely say that the problem of extremism and violence nowadays has really become a problem of teenagers or even children, which is a very big challenge for our prevention efforts,” Daniella Pisoiu, scientific director of SCENOR – The Science Crew in Austria, told Euronews.
Games industry wants to create safe communities for players
“Finding the right balance between artistic freedom and dealing with hate games is something that definitely requires action from game distribution platforms. The European games industry has been working for years to create healthy, non-toxic online communities for everyone and this has been our goal for a long time. We have created a number of different methodologies, tools etc. for this and something that we are more successful on this side and we hope that other industries building digital communities will pick up on is the strong investment in community management”, Yari Peka Kaleva, managing director of the Swedish-based European Game Creators Federation, told Euronews.
The event also featured the Watchtower tool, which is based on Artificial Intelligence and developed as part of the GEMS project designed to enhance the detection and prevention of extremist activities in game spaces.
Video editor • Lucy Davalou
