Playing Against Radicalisation: Why Extremists are Gaming and How P/CVE Can Leverage the Positive Effects of Video Games to Prevent Radicalisation
Playing Against Radicalisation: Why Extremists are Gaming and How P/CVE Can Leverage the Positive Effects of Video Games to Prevent Radicalisation
Playing Against Radicalisation: Why Extremists are Gaming and How P/CVE Can Leverage the Positive Effects of Video Games to Prevent Radicalisation
By Linda Schlegel
October 19, 2022
Summary
While the exploitation of gaming content and spaces by extremist actors is a relatively new phenomenon and research in this area is sparse, it has become clear that extremists are seeking to utilise video games, gaming platforms, and gaming-related content for their ends.
It is unsurprising that P/CVE practitioners are currently debating how gaming could also be used in efforts to prevent and counter extremism and radicalisation.
Largely absent from the discourse surrounding these games so far is a thorough and explicit engagement with the existing literature on what such serious games can realistically achieve and in which areas P/CVE-related video games could seek to make an impact.
While mainstream media often reports on the alleged negative effects of gaming such as aggression, addiction, or antisocial behaviour, decades of research have also uncovered various positive effects video games may elicit.
The existing literature on the positive effects video games are able to elicit suggests that video games could be a promising avenue for P/CVE. Video Games and P/CVE. The existing literature on the positive effects of video games indicates that the development of video games could be a fruitful avenue for P/CVE actors.
This includes catering to different player types and offering different motivational drivers to players, and, most prominently, by making serious video games that are not "Chocolate-covered broccoli" but rather "Candy with vitamins." In other words, P/CVE games need to be good games.
While the first pilot games have been produced, there needs to be more engagement with gaming literature within P/CVE discourses and better collaboration with game designers in the future if P/CVE video games are to become a valuable tool in preventing and countering radicalisation.
Reference
Schlegel, L., & Schlegel, L. (2022, October 19). Playing against radicalisation: Why extremists are gaming and how P/CVE can leverage the positive effects of video games to prevent radicalisation. Retrieved October 26, 2022, from https://gnet-research.org/2022/10/19/playing-against-radicalisation-why-extremists-are-gaming-and-how-p-cve-can-leverage-the-positive-effects-of-video-games-to-prevent-radicalisation/