Study finds radical nutjobs targeting gamers via Discord, Twitch, Steam Researchers from Anglia Ruskin University have sounded the alarm on "gaming-adjacent platforms" including Discord, Twitch, and Steam being used as "digital playgrounds" to funnel new recruits into far-right and other extremist ideologies – with a focus on those showing interest in "hyper-masculine gaming titles." "These gaming …
"Compared with social media, the gaming domain has insufficient policies and mechanisms to cope with information influence campaigns,"
If you are pre-disposed to being a racially biased moron, a video game isn't the thing that will put you over the edge. Keep your political correctness out off my games.
Yes, but being approached by a recruiter for an extremist organisation is going to put you over the edge. The research describes the challenges with moderating games, in particular that their less "politically correct" nature means it's more difficult to moderate. For example, in many games sending death threats (or even planning the extermination of a particular group) is perfectly acceptable in the context of the game, but it would be a bit of an issue if those messages are not about the game. It never states that the content of video games should change, just that there needs to be a better way to protect people who are easily influenced from these recruiters.
They don't rope people in because they are racist to begin with. They rope in people with a sense of community, a place where they belong, and then slowly but surely get them hooked on extremist propaganda.
Funnily enough, #GamerGate was a movement with very adjacent views to yours (it was against political correctness and diversity in games), and that movement was used by white supremacists very effectively as a recruiting tool.
At least traditional media never did this. Now excuse me I have to go and watch TV where John Wayne shows me how I can be a true patriotic hero if I kill enough gooks.
Then Tom Cruise will show me how even a short-arse gay volleyball player can defeat the evil Soviets Iraqis Afghans Russians definitely not the Chinese Canadians if we spend enough on military tech.
"The first part glorifies murder, genocide, torture, instills a sense of superiority, and all in the name of a supposed magic sky being."
On the plus side, it permitted sleeping with your female slaves as long as you weren't planning on selling them. No mention whether the lady of the house could have her wicked way with the male slaves (irrespective of any intention regarding future sale).
Your choices; go out and compete with big cats to hunt deer, try and scratch a furrow with a stick and the pull weeds until dark, invent a job where you sit indoors and everyone else has to bring you food and do what you say or the sky fairy will get angry....
Give or take wearing silly hats and children that's history of religion 101
Interesting read, i haven't been able to fully digest it, but i'll put it in my reading list for later.
Another interesting read (snowballed into it from the main article) is Why White Supremacist Recruiters Target Gamers and How to Stop Them . It goes into the tactics used by recruiters and also why gamers might be more vulnerable.
It basically comes down to a combination of there being an intersection of traits between being a gamer (especially in the early days), and being a target for extremist ideology. They also hijack meme culture as propaganda, which also appeals to many gamers. The latest research shows how they reel them in to adjacent platforms to further influence them.
Why are we allowing video games to influence our children into authoritarian ideologies?
Schools should've teaching children how to properly behave in society. Now all stand to swear allegiance to the flag and the great leader and then we will all chant the 10 principles of good thought displayed on the wall of every classroom
Have to wonder whether Anglia Ruskin was where A Very Peculiar Practice was set ?
The institute's name wouldn't look out of place on emblazoned on the side of an improbable space craft in some dodgy space opera. Blake's Seven ?
So people who are addicted to playing video games that consist almost exclusively of the player killing other living creatures including fellow human beings, are attracted to ideologies that glorify the same ? No shit ...
It seems like violent terrorists probably don't get a lot of time to be playing advanced/modern 3D games of the "Super Macho" type on their gaming computers in order to recruit (specifically?) Americans.
So who, then? Well, there have been some headlines recently,
- FBI Accused of Turning Mentally Ill Man into a Terrorist
- FBI Entrapment Harms Vulnerable Muslims
- The FBI Has a Racism Problem and it Hurts Our National Security
- FBI Targeted Mentally Disabled Muslim American Citizens
Maybe not just racism, but stereotypes generally -- what was that about the _type_ of games being played? Which countries on Earth regard 3d shooters as a threat to society? Which countries would likely specifically target that group?
But enough speculation. What terrorists are actually being caught, doing this?
> Since the September 11th, 2001, most of the 992 terrorism defendants prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice have been charged with material support for terrorism, criminal conspiracy, immigration violations, or making false statements — vague, nonviolent offenses that give prosecutors wide latitude for scoring quick convictions or plea bargains.
Huh. Well, the research documents it: there is a concerted, centralized plot to these online gaming recruitment strategies. I'm just *surprised* to think about what groups might be doing it. How about you?
I don't think this “threat” is coming from gamers.
Dr. William Allchorn:
“Moving beyond Islamist Extremism: Assessing Counter-Narrative Responses to the Global Far Right (2022)”
“Anti-Islamic Protest in the UK: Policy Responses to the Far Right (2018)”
“Tracking the Rise of the Radical Right Globally: CARR Yearbook 2018/2019 (2019, Editor)”
Yep sure sounds as not pushing an agenda /s
Yeah, this "far right". What a bunch of horrible people are these, (r)aping and groping girls in public pools on a daily basis, blowing themselves up in crowds, cutting off heads of teachers in France, killing random people with rented SUV's on Xmas markets in Germany, dozens of knife attacks on daily basis in Germany, making whole neighborhoods unsafe, turning Stockholm into the (r)ape capital of the world, doing drug trade and petty crime on a massive scale instead of getting normal jobs.
The world would be a better place without these "far right" people doing all these horrific things.
....few of you twats read the whole article or the original materials the article is based on. This isn't criticizing the games, it's describing how technological platforms adjacent to gaming and part of the ecosystem are convenient tools to recruit psychologically vulnerable people into extremist groups.
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