Introduction
On May 14, 2022, a white supremacist extremist committed a mass murder at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 Black shoppers and injuring three others˳ In the logs of his messages on the social platform Discord, the shooter wrote that a game on Roblox was a key vector in his radicalization˳
Excerpt from archived version of the Buffalo shooter’s Discord logs referenced by NBC News journalist Benjamin Goggin˳
Our 2022 survey finds that adult exposure to white supremacy in online games has more than doubled to 20% of gamers, up from 8% in 2021˳ Among young gamers ages 10-17, 15% have been exposed to white supremacist ideologies and themes in online games˳ Our results and other research suggest that the inability of the games industry to build safe, respectful spaces for their users has made communities within online game platforms so rife with hate that they rival the worst places on the internet, such as the notorious forum 4chan˳
Although the connection between video games and violence has been repeatedly disproven, there is a growing body of research examining the connection between the industry’s negligence in moderating hate within online games and the normalization of extremist ideologies˳ In October 2021, the Extremism and Gaming Research Network was launched, bringing together various efforts to study radicalization and online games, as a result of increased interest in this arena˳
Unfortunately, there is plenty of grist for this research˳
The government of New Zealand released a report on the anti-Muslim attack in Christchurch that clearly showed how the shooter’s path to radicalization started in online multiplayer games, where he was able to “openly express racist and far right views” without pushback from the community or the platform˳ Researchers used anonymized German police case files to investigate the influence of online gaming spaces such as Roblox and gaming-adjacent social platforms like Discord in radicalizing two children under 14˳ One of the children was drawn to World War II recreations on Roblox, where he befriended someone who eventually invited him to join a far-right Discord server with users who wanted to “liberate the country of all Jews and fags˳” The study echoed Wired’s reporting on extremist activity in Roblox, which found the platform was a fertile environment for fascism, hosting recreations of mass murders and games with slavery˳
The games industry cannot claim ignorance of disturbing findings related to extremism and online gaming˳ At the Game Developers Conference (GDC), a major industry event, two researchers, Dr˳ Rachel Kowert and Alex Newhouse, discussed worrying signs of extremist normalization in the popular game Call of Duty (COD), including the appearance of “RAHOWA,” an acronym for “Racial Holy War” that is used as a rallying cry for white supremacists in usernames on COD’s leaderboards˳ The researchers also talked about interconnected, openly extremist networks of users on Roblox and Steam, an online games store and forum˳ They showed the presence of far-right individuals on gaming platforms, including members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front on Roblox and a former leader of the neo-Nazi group Feuerkrieg Division on Steam˳
At GDC, Dr˳ Kowert shared troubling results from her research finding that many people who primarily identified themselves as gamers also strongly agreed with the beliefs of white-nationalist movements˳ ADL Belfer Fellow Dr˳ Constance Steinkuehler presented similar results at the Games for Change Festival, another large industry conference˳ The UN also recently released a report exploring similar connections between extremism, gamers, and online multiplayer games˳
Such research is becoming an issue of national security˳ The Department of Homeland Security awarded a $700,000 grant to Newhouse and Dr˳ Kowert in September to expand their research into the connection between extremism and online games˳
Despite mounting concern, only one major games company, Roblox, prohibits extremism on its platform˳ Its policy was published only after Roblox faced significant public and private pressure to moderate hateful content and activity discovered on its platform˳
In addition to extremism, another form of hate has flourished for years in online games: misogyny˳ For the fourth year in a row, our survey shows that gender was the most frequently cited reason for identity-based abuse˳ At Games for Change, Dr˳ Steinkuehler noted, “In broader national movements, it is typically antisemitism that lies at the root of white supremacy movements; in games, it is misogyny˳”
The misogynistic culture of online games is not accidental; one can argue it begins with company culture˳
Carlos Rodriguez, the CEO of gaming company G2 Esports, was seen partying alongside noted misogynist Andrew Tate while celebrating the company’s world-championship event˳ Tate was deplatformed by all mainstream social media companies for repeatedly promoting violence against women and perpetuating rape culture, though he was allowed back on Twitter in November 2022 following Elon Musk’s takeover of the company˳ Outrage over the event spread online, and Rodriguez initially refused to disavow his association with Tate˳ After public pressure, Rodriguez apologized, was suspended from running his company for eight weeks, and subsequently stepped down˳
Such an incident points to the glaring hypocrisy of the games industry, where public statements often serve as performative gestures˳ Misogyny in online games continues unabated, although games companies spoke out against the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v˳ Wade and expressed support for their employees’ right to bodily autonomy˳ For this year’s survey, we tracked the timeline of public statements by the games industry relative to the gutting of Roe˳
Additionally, when asking about various controversial topics related to extremism and disinformation, this year’s survey asked about the degree to which players experienced discussions of anti-abortion extremism and language connected to the “manosphere˳” Nearly one in ten adults (7%) were exposed to discussions of these topics that included expressions such as “femoids will pay” or “abortions for black women will help the white birth rate˳”
The results of this year’s survey are more dire than ever˳ The growing investment of civil society, research, and government in examining the relationship between extremism and online games stands in stark contrast to the industry’s refusal to address extremism and misogyny˳ Extremist activity has grown sharply over the past few years˳ Democratic institutions are in peril˳ Thus, all societal actors must act swiftly to stem the tide of hate that afflicts our country˳
