While there isn’t a lot of data on radicalization through gaming, people are increasingly talking about it. To that end, the Department of Homeland Security recently awarded a $699,763 grant to a research group, working to develop a shared framework for understanding extremism in games. Gaming is definitely a more prevalent form of media now, than it was a decade back. And that presents new challenges for authorities in terms of tracking and monitoring these threats. Some of the responsibility also lies with game developers and publishers, who should have strict protocols and reporting tools to deal with such threats. – DHS Middlebury’s Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, along with Take This, and Logically also plans to host training workshops for the “monitoring, detection, and prevention of extremist exploitation in gaming spaces for community managers, multiplayer designers, lore developers, mechanics designers, and trust and safety professionals.” Almost all of us are familiar with the prevalence of toxicity and racism in online games, and some of us have probably faced the blunt end of it at some point. Although that doesn’t mean all of it is coming from extremists, or terrorists. But it certainly helps actual threat actors blend in. So it is now even more important for researchers to study the cultures and subcultures around gaming to make that distinction.
