The nexus between violent extremism and online gaming has been a pressing issue among researchers, policy makers and law enforcement agencies for some time. Violent perpetrators like Anders Breivik used well-known video games to prepare for their attacks. Brenton Tarrant live streamed his attack, mirroring the style of first-person shooter games or ‘Let’s Play’ videos. Extremists have also used gaming platforms to disseminate propaganda, radicalise or recruit others, and have created or altered video games to share their ideologies. The gamification of extremist discourse, including threats of violence, has also allowed extremists to mask or trivialise their violent intentions towards others. However, online gaming communities and certain game genres, such as first-person shooter games, have also been disproportionately stigmatised as a result of these events. Given the distinctive and complex radicalisation journey of each individual, it can be difficult to identify drivers of radicalisation that are unique to the online gaming ecosystem – which is itself a highly complex and variable space. Large-scale data-driven studies can help us to better understand how violent extremism manifests within gaming communities and on gaming-related platforms.

This research investigates the prevalence of Extreme Right-Wing (ERW) and incel content in public spaces across the online gaming ecosystem. It focuses on key extremist narratives and themes, the role of games and influential voices, as well as recruitment and radicalisation tactics. This report features qualitative and quantitative analysis of extremist content across gaming spaces on Discord, 4chan, Gamer Uprising, incels.is and Steam.

This report is part of the project ‘Games as a multi-layered security threat’ (GEMS), a Horizon Europe-funded project aimed at curbing the spread of extremism within the diverse world of online gaming.