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Jumanji Extremism? How games and gamification could facilitate radicalization processes

June 2020

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Peace Research Institute Frankfurt

While the last years have seen increased engagement with gaming in relation to extremist attacks, its potential role in facilitating radicalization has received less attention than other factors. This article makes an exploratory contribution to the theoretical foundations of the study of gaming in radicalization research. It is argued that both top-down and bottom up gamification have already impacted extremist discourse and potentially radicalization processes but that research on gamification in other contexts points to a much wider application of gamification to extremist propaganda distribution tools in the future. The potential influence of video games on radicalization processes exceeds the transfer of the popular argument that exposure to violent media leads to desensitization to the context of radicalization and includes the exploitation of pop culture references, increases in self-efficacy regarding violence, and the direct experience of retropian visions through the content of games.

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Linda Schlegel: Jumanji Extremism? How games and gamification could facilitate

radicalization processes

Summer 2020

Nr. 23

ISSN: 2363-9849

Jumanji Extremism? How games and gamification could facilitate

radicalization processes

Linda Schlegela

aNon-Resident Fellow, modus | Zentrum für angewandte Deradikalisierungsforschung

Article History

Received Mar 11, 2020

Accepted Apr 8, 2020

Published Jun 26, 2020

Keywords: Radicalization, Gamification, Video Games, Propaganda, Extremism

Introduction

Joe Johnston’s movie Jumanji from 1995 and the newer sequels from 2017 and 2019 revolve

around a board game coming to life. The protagonists are transported into the game and

Jumanji becomes their reality. Only by beating the game they can return to their lives outside

of the fictional world. Jumanji redefines the players’ reality; there is no longer a distinction

between one’s role as a player and one’s role as a human being. Players literally become their

avatars. Radicalization is a process that also redefines an individual’s perception of reality and

can fully immerse an individual in a parallel world removed from mainstream society. The

Corresponding Author Contact: Linda Schlegel, Email: linda0509@web.de, Twitter @LiSchlegel. All views

expressed are the author’s own and neither endorsed nor supported by her affiliated organizations. Linda

Schlegel holds an MA in Terrorism, Security and Society from King’s College London and is a non-resident

fellow at modus | Zentrum für angewandte Deradikalisierungsforschung.

Abstract

While the last years have seen increased engagement with gaming in relation to

extremist attacks, its potential role in facilitating radicalization has received less

attention than other factors. This article makes an exploratory contribution to the

theoretical foundations of the study of gaming in radicalization research. It is

argued that both top-down and bottom up gamification have already impacted

extremist discourse and potentially radicalization processes but that research on

gamification in other contexts points to a much wider application of gamification

to extremist propaganda distribution tools in the future. The potential influence of

video games on radicalization processes exceeds the transfer of the popular

argument that exposure to violent media leads to desensitization to the context of

radicalization and includes the exploitation of pop culture references, increases in

self-efficacy regarding violence, and the direct experience of retropian visions

through the content of games.

Linda Schlegel: Jumanji Extremism? How games and gamification could facilitate

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ISSN: 2363-9849

Jumanji slogan “A game for those who seek to find a way to leave their world behind” may

also apply to radicalized individuals leaving mainstream society - and often everything they

previously cared about - behind; they are embarking on a new endeavor with a new identity

and leave what used to be ‘their’ world.

Radicalization into extremism can hardly be considered as ‘play’. However, elements

usually associated with games and popular culture have featured in propaganda and

radicalization efforts, including the footage collected through HD-cameras attached to helmets

of fighters, alluding to the visual design of first-person-shooter (FPS) games such as Call of

Duty (Scaife, 2017) or the application of gamified elements such as points and rankings

(Ebner, 2019). While (video) games have been part of the extremist ‘toolkit’ for quite some

time (Lakomy, 2019), the issue received heightened attention with the rise of Islamic State

(hereafter ISIS), which utilized gaming references extensively and allegedly programmed its

own video game, Salil al-Swarim [The Clanging of the Swords] (Al-Rawi, 2018). After being

made increasingly popular by ISIS, the use of games and gamification elements has ‘migrated

downstream’ to other jihadist groups (Dauber et al, 2019). Right-wing extremists too have

gained increased attention for their ‘gamified’ attacks. For instance, the attacks in both

Christchurch and Halle have been live streamed by the attackers, invoking visual imagery

commonly associated with FPS games (Mackintosh & Mezzofiore, 2019). This indicates a

move towards the inclusion and rising prominence of gamified elements in propaganda

efforts, which may potentially influence radicalization processes.

While the last years have seen an increase in engagement with the subject (e.g.

Lakomy, 2019; Schlegel, 2018; Al-Rawi, 2018), games and gamification have so far received

less attention than other factors potentially facilitating radicalization processes. The present

article explores some of the mechanisms by which games and gamified applications could

come to facilitate radicalization processes. The article should be read as a Weberian ideal type

analysis; not as a holistic account of radicalization but as an exploration of how games and

gamification could, for some individuals, increase the susceptibility to radicalization or

facilitate radicalization processes already underway. Although both games and elements of

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gamification can be applied offline, the article focuses on an exploration of online

applications, social media and video games, placing it within the discourse on online-

radicalization (Baaken & Schlegel, 2017). Because both cognitive and behavioral

radicalization processes relate to the acceptance or the exercise of violence, only violent video

games are treated as the basis for the discussion on the role of games in radicalization.

Nevertheless, an analysis of the potential role of non-violent games it to be encouraged in

future studies.

The present analysis is conducted from the standpoint of the player or user, primarily

motivated by seeking entertainment. While extremist organizations could and indeed have

used (Thurrott, 2001; Pidd, 2012) so-called serious games (Bittner & Schipper, 2014), which

are intended not for entertainment but purely for training purposes such as war gaming

(Röhle, 2014), the present discussion is limited to casual games (Rapp, 2017) with an

entertainment appeal for the player. In the context of radicalization, playing serious games

with instrumental intent requires an already advanced radicalization process and would likely

be used for specific training in the preparation of an attack. For reasons of conceptual clarity,

the present article focuses on how games and gamification elements could facilitate

susceptibility to radicalization, not on training already radicalized individuals. While it is

likely that different ideological justifications for extremist violence would result in different

gamified applications and different content of games, this article is not focused on

ideologically-determined details of the gaming content but puts forward a theoretical

exploration of general mechanisms by which games and gamified elements may influence

radicalization processes.

The article is structured as follows: After locating games and gamification within the

wider discourse on (online-) radicalization, potential uses of gamification elements for the

facilitation of radicalization processes and the psychological processes underlying it are

examined. Then, it is analyzed how video games could enhance susceptibility to radicalization

or facilitate radicalization processes already underway. The article closes with a discussion of

potential limitations and a conclusion.

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Locating games and gamification within the wider discourse on radicalization

The discourse on violent video games

Violence in communication media has been researched and discussed for a long time:

From Tertullian lamenting the possibility that watching gladiators could lead to increased

violence (Dowsett & Jackson, 2019) to more modern media such as cinema, comic books and

music (DeCamp, 2014), the display of violence has been a topic of hot debates among

scholars and the public. The depiction of violence in video games (Hartmann et al, 2014) as

well as the correlation between video games and violent or aggressive behavior has been the

subject of a lot of scholarly inquiry (Engelhardt et al, 2011; Greitemeyer, 2014) and has been

controversially debated over the last thirty years, in politics and public discourse (Crump,

2014; Robinson, 2012) and within the gaming community (Nauroth et al, 2014). What sets

video games apart from previous media are their interactivity and the agency of the player;

that is, the active role players take in shaping the story in an increasingly realistic setting,

which may increase the degree of influence that consuming these games has on the perception

and behavior of the individuals playing. Video games can immerse players, allowing them to

partially merge with their avatar and identify themselves with the game characters (Fischer et

al, 2010). The higher the identification with the avatar, the larger the impact of the violent

game (Lin, 2013). Video games influence players on a neurological level (Engelhardt et al,

2011) as well as by contributing to a normalization of violent behavior (Greitemeyer, 2014),

but there is also evidence that those with higher levels of aggression choose to play video

games more often (Przybylski et al, 2009) and that games are only one of many interacting

factors on a pathway to violence (DeCamp, 2015).

A large and diverse literature has emerged, including work on how video games

influence individual (acceptance of) aggressive behavior (Funk et al, 2003; Beck et al., 2012),

youth delinquency (DeLisi et al, 2012), societal violence (Ferguson, 2015) or (school)

shootings (Crump, 2014; McDonald, 2018). The findings are not always conclusive, they are

‘all over the map’ (Wolock, 2004), and the causal relationship between games and violence is

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therefore still contested (Gunter & Daly, 2012; Ferguson, 2011; Ferguson & Wang, 2019).

While the American Psychological Association (APA) has found no causal relationship

between violent games and violent behavior (APA, 2020), confirming that violent behavior is

a multifaceted phenomenon, studies have shown that violent games do have effects on players

perceptions of violence (Lin, 2013; Greitemeyer, 2014) and recent findings by the APA

confirm the link between violent video games and both physical and verbal aggression (as

opposed to outright violence) (APA, 2020). This shows that while there is no straightforward

pathway from violent games to violent deeds, violent video games can influence players

negatively.

The discourse on gamification

Gamification is a relatively new topic with a notable increase in research since the

2010s (Sailer et al, 2017) and has originally been applied in advertising context (Bittner &

Schipper, 2014). The term gamification refers to the “use of game design elements within

non-game contexts” (Deterding et al., 2011, p.1). By introducing elements such as points,

leaderboards and badges, non-gaming contexts can be gamified. Crucially, gamification is

aimed at facilitating behavioral change in the users (Robson et al, 2015) and is often applied

in the commercial sector to engage service users (Blohm & Leimeister, 2013) or employees

(Mitchell et al, 2020). Gamification has also been applied in educational settings from the

primary-level (Jagust et al, 2018) to university students (van Roy & Zaman, 2019) and for

autistic children (Malinverni et al, 2017), employee and customer experience (Robson et al,

2016), library usage (Prince, 2013), health (Gonzalez et al, 2016), exercise (Hamari &

Koivisto, 2015), work (Robson et al, 2016) and environmental protection (Gustafsson et al,

2010), as well as in experimental designs (Mekler et al., 2017). The public sector and

governments are also increasingly aware of the potential benefits of gamification and use it,

for instance, to nudge drivers to abide by the speed limit (Blohm & Leimeister, 2013).

Gamification is not without its critics, both in academia and beyond. The underlying

mechanisms of gamification are still contested and some assume that its effects are

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overestimated as positive effects could be caused by the novelty of these applications rather

than gamification itself (Fleming, 2014). Practical concerns surround, for instance, the

application of gamification in military contexts (Pugliese, 2016) introducing score sheets for

killings and specifically recruiting gamers (Pilkington, 2015). Nevertheless, it is applied in a

wide variety of situations. It is clear that gamification does not work for everyone in all

contexts; age, for instance, mediates the effects of gamification on users as younger users

seem to respond more favorably to gamification than older generations (Koivisto & Hamari,

2014). Generally, however, it is believed that gamification is a useful tool to achieve

behavioral change, not only because it makes tasks more interesting, increases engagement

(Hamari, 2017), resonates with young users acquainted to 21st century literacy (Kingsley &

Grabner-Hagen, 2015) or encourages interactivity with other players (Rapp, 2014), but also

because it partially fulfills players’ psychological needs such as competency and social

relatedness (Sailer et al, 2017).

Games and gamification in radicalization research

Both games and gamification fall within the realm of the utilization of technological

advancements by extremist organizations and relate to the discourse on online-radicalization.

Online-radicalization “may be described as the process of adopting beliefs justifying and/or

compelling violence primarily through online media consumption” (Baaken & Schlegel,

2017). While work on online-radicalization often focuses on the role of social media

applications such as Facebook, Telegram or Twitter (Weimann, 2010; Kaati et al, 2015;

Bloom et al, 2017), we have also seen the gaming platform Discord being used as a

communication and recruitment tool by extremists (Ebner, 2019). It is therefore not

unreasonable to assume that games and gaming platforms can and are being used to facilitate

(online-) radicalization processes. Although some have been critical about the role of the

Internet in radicalization process (Benson, 2014; Bouhana & Wikström, 2011) and it is

increasingly contested whether the properties of new media applications actually produce the

‘echo chambers’ (Winter, 2016) and filter or virtual bubbles (Pariser, 2011; Musawi, 2010)

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previously viewed as decisive for online-radicalization processes (Reed et al, 2019), many

ascribe an important and influential role to the online realm in facilitating radicalization

(Berger & Strathearn, 2013; Carter et al, 2014; Edwards & Gribbon, 2013; McNicol, 2016;

Meleagrou-Hitchens & Kaderbhai, 2017; Koehler, 2014) and it has been shown that many

contemporary terrorists have engaged with Internet resources (Gill et al, 2017). Extremist

organizations increasingly rely on the Internet and social media to disseminate propaganda via

various channels (Weimann, 2010) and have utilized the benefits of social media

communication to their ends. Radicalization research has been focused on the platforms used

by extremists (Berger & Morgan, 2015), the content they disseminate through them (Ingram,

2017), how it is produced and disseminated (Bhui & Ibrahim, 2013; Sardarnia & Safizadeh,

2017, Aly, 2016), who consumes it (von Behr et al, 2013), and in which ways this content can

inspire identification with extremist organizations, and motivate to act upon the ideology

conveyed (Edwards & Gribbon, 2013; Schlegel, 2017).

Games and gamification are closely related to virtual applications and relate to the

discourse on online-radicalization in at least three ways. Firstly, while receiving less attention

in the research community, games have been part of propaganda efforts for a while. The

‘virtual caliphate’ (Brandon, 2008; Winter, 2015), for example, has included themes of

‘gaming jihad’ (Lakomy, 2019). For instance, modifications of popular games such as Grand

Theft Auto and changing the game Quest for Saddam into Quest for Bush (Schlegel, 2018) had

already been included in jihadist propaganda efforts at least since 2003. Lakomy (2019)

provides an overview of how gaming has been used since 9/11 by various jihadist

organizations in various locations, attesting to the utilization of games in propaganda,

radicalization and training efforts. Only with the rise of ISIS, however, did games gain more

attention in the popular discourse on radicalization (Al-Rawi, 2018), including in relation to

the launch of its educational app Huroof (Lakomy, 2019), which asks children to match

Arabic letters to pictures of tanks, bombs and other military images, thereby gamifying

engagement with propaganda material and providing a ‘fun’ introduction to the future life as

fighters in the ‘Caliphate’ (Gramer, 2017). It needs to be stressed that not only jihadists have

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utilized games. Right-wing extremists too have come to understand the popular appeal of

video games and have sought to utilize the gaming world for their ends. For instance, the

Daily Stormer developed a modification of the popular game Doom 2, in which players can

fight against the Jewish world conspiracy. One of the users commented on the game with

approval, stating that there were “many options for genocide, lots of fun” (Ebner, 2019, p.143,

translation mine). The inclusion of games in propaganda efforts is therefore not such a new

development as it may seem, but due to the increasing accessibility and easy application of

tools to modify and produce games, a proliferation of games with extremist content is not

unlikely.

Secondly, the proliferation of social media and online communication capabilities

made employing of games and gamification easier and more practical for extremist

organizations. Many gamified applications are only possible by connecting phones, smart

watches and other tools to the Internet in order to create playful online environments in

various contexts, such as NikeFuel or Movepill gamifying exercise and taking medicine

respectively (Blohm & Leimeister, 2013). Video games too are often not bought on discs

anymore, but played as browser games, downloaded onto smartphones or designed as

multiplayer online games such as World of Warcraft (WoW). They are therefore closely

intertwined with Internet usage and the sociality associated with new forms of social media

communication transcending time and space to form global gaming communities. Because

smartphones and laptops as well as gaming software on them are so widespread today and

users are acquainted with gamified applications, gaming is now an opportunity structure for

extremist organization in reaching a large and diverse audience.

Thirdly, games and gamification may also be regarded as part of ‘jihadi cool’ (Picart,

2015) and the counterculture (Cottee, 2015) or pop culture (Hegghammer, 2017) appeal

employed to increase the susceptibility to radicalization of those who are familiar with the

gaming culture. Jihadists have made use of references to Western-style music videos

(Stenersen, 2017) and comic books (Ostovar, 2017) before, and gaming is a natural extension

of these appeals derived from pop culture. ISIS, for instance, has not only employed the

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familiar imagery of FPS games in its propaganda videos by using HD helmet cameras, it has

extensively referenced games directly, especially Call of Duty. The propaganda video Fight

them. Allah will punish them by your hands from 2016 contains scenes from the actual Call of

Duty game, utilizing the familiar and ‘cool’ appeal of the game for propaganda purposes

(Lakomy, 2019). In 2014, Junaid Hussain, seeking to recruit Western youngsters to join ISIS,

tweeted ”You can sit at home and play call of duty or you can come and respond to the real

call of duty...the choice is yours” (Hussain in McDonald, 2018, p.130), again using a familiar

reference point for a call to action. Therefore, referencing games and alluding to familiar

content in propaganda efforts is a popular means of seeking to facilitate radicalization

processes.

Both video games and gamification therefore fall within the realm of online

propaganda and, potentially, online-radicalization processes. They provide tools for social

interaction, utilize the ‘coolness’ of video games, and afford the opportunity to present

extremist content in a fun and engaging manner. Nevertheless, the use of video games and

gamification elements has received less attention than other factors contributing to

radicalization processes. In the following, an attempt is made at uncovering some of the

mechanisms by which both could support susceptibility to radicalization or facilitate

radicalization processes already underway.

Potential role of gamification in radicalization

Because gamification has only recently come to the forefront of research efforts, the

underlying mechanisms by which gamification operates, its positive and negative effects, as

well as the contexts in which it can be successfully applied, are still contested. Nevertheless, it

is possible to deduce at least three potential ways gamification could facilitate radicalization:

(a) by providing gratification of psychological needs, (b) by gamifying the teaching of

ideology, and (c) by increasing the appeal of extremist tools.

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(a) Gamification can increase user satisfaction and contribute to the gratification of

psychological needs. By far the most used framework in gamification studies is self-

determination theory (van Roy & Zaman, 2019), postulating that gamification can help to

meet three basic psychological needs: feeling competent, feeling autonomous, and

experiencing social relatedness (Sailer et al., 2017). For instance, the ‘PBL-triad’ of points,

badges and leaderboards positively affects the feeling of competency, providing users with

measurable and visible indicators of success. The triad also provides clear and easily

obtainable goals: Users know what they have to achieve in order to receive a new badge or

climb up the leaderboard. Completion of these goals makes users feel good about themselves.

This positive feeling leads to greater likelihood of continued engagement (Hamari, 2017). By

providing external incentives to engage, gamified extremist tools can satisfy basic

psychological needs, which increases the likelihood that users will continue to participate,

thereby normalizing the engagement with extremist content and potentially facilitating

radicalization processes. Gamification also facilitates cognitive-emotional mechanisms

(Mullins & Sabherwal, 2020). By promoting positive emotional reactions such as excitement,

feeling entertained and having fun, gamification can increase attention paid to gamified

content and improve memory retention of it, which could support radicalization processes.

When aided by emotional satisfaction during engagement, extremist content could resonate

with users, be retrieved more easily from memory, and potentially aid radicalization

processes.

(b) During the coming years, gamification is estimated to play an increasingly

important role in educational settings for both children and adult learners (Kingsley &

Grabner-Hagen, 2015). Terrorist organizations have long understood the power of controlling

educational settings and teaching their extremist ideologies to young and old in an appealing

and engaging manner, exemplified, for instance, by ISIS educational app for children but also

educational projects by Hezbollah and ETA (Gramer, 2017; ADL, 2016). Concerning the use

of music, Pieslak writes “when attempting to draw people to radical ideology, do not lead

with the ideology if you can find a more attractive garment in which to dress the message.

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And music provides very fashionable clothes” (Pieslak, 2017, p. 75). The same might be said

about gamification. If one has the opportunity to make ideology accessible to adults and

youngsters in ‘fashionable clothes’, it is preferable to dry modes of instruction. New

technological advances, including gamification, have made a wealth of new opportunities

available to merge educational and entertainment goals. Transmission of ideology has moved

from books and physical training camps, to videos, social media and apps, each time

increasing the potential reach of the message through using tools that engage more users. It is

not unreasonable to assume that further developments will incorporate more gamification

elements to increase user engagement with ideological contents and facilitate radicalization by

making learning of ideological concepts engaging and ‘fun’.

gamified tools would only be another avenue of social interaction, research on social media’s

role in radicalization processes would apply to them. What makes gamification unique is that

it adds an element of friendly competition as well as peer motivation to reach specific goals;

the successful completion of which are visible to other users. Through awarding points or

badges and by affording the opportunity to compare one’s own ranking to others, gamified

applications can increase motivation to engage with extremist content and other users, in

order to improve one’s standing in the group by collecting more virtual points. Higher

rankings provide prestige within the group and increase feelings of competence and

achievement (Sailer et al, 2017). Competition and a sense of achievement may increase the

willingness to engage with extremist content in order to collect even more points.

Gamification can draw ambitious and competitive users deeper within the group processes as

they seek to improve their score board (Robson et al, 2016). If the ‘best’ players are

recognized or rewarded, those on a ‘quest for significance’ (Kruglanski et al, 2019) seeking to

increase their social status could be motivated to engage with the group’s ideology and goals

more thoroughly, thereby increasing the likelihood and progression of radicalization.

Gamification also offers the opportunity to support each other in reaching specific

goals, thereby adding positive social influences and increasing the likelihood of building a

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virtual ‘imagined community’ (Anderson, 1991). Connections to others with similar goals

may not only support behavior change regarding, for instance, working out (Hamari &

Koivisto, 2015), but could also facilitate ‘bunch of guys’-like group processes (Sageman,

2004) by which users support and radicalize each other through their engagement with the

extremist community. Social proof theory, for instance, postulates that humans are more

likely to engage in behaviors when they see others engaged as well (Hamari, 2017). A

gamified virtual community can help make that engagement visible through points and

badges, leading to a higher likelihood of individuals wanting to engage in the same behavior

as their peers and collecting points to become part of the community. Even truly virtual

sociality, such as the interaction with a computer-based companion, has been shown to

increase motivation and facilitate behavior change in the users (Fox & Barnes, 2016). The

social aspect of ‘playing’ together (both against and with each other) can make gamified

applications very appealing for extremist organizations seeking to motivate and engage their

supporters. Gamification elements do not only allow players who seek competition to

compare themselves to their peers, they allow for a community to develop that facilitates

behavior change in all players through social comparison and social support.

The incorporation of gamification in extremist tools is still in its infancy. Nevertheless,

we have witnessed the beginning of a gamification of extremism in recent years. One may

distinguish between top-down gamification, driven and implemented by extremist

organizations, and bottom-up gamification, driven by those already radicalized or currently in

the process of radicalizing. The former is discussed using the example of the Patriot Peer app,

the latter with reference to livestreaming of attacks and individuals envisioning ‘quests’

during their radicalization process.

Top-down gamification

Extremist organizations are proactive agents and can actively gamify their tools to

increase user loyalty, make their applications and forums more engaging, and to facilitate a -

from their perspective - desirable behavior change. Examples of gamification in extremist

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organizations include, for instance, different levels or ranks users can obtain in forums,

reputation meters or virtual badges. One forum even included a “radicalization meter” (Hsu,

2011), a visualization of one’s ‘progress’. As extremists moved from closed forums into the

open, social media and apps are now also being gamified. Ebner (2019) describes that the

Identitarian Movement (Identitäre Bewegung; IB) plans to launch the app Patriot Peer, which

is aimed at connecting like-minded individuals and facilitating networking within the

movement. The more connections one acquires, the more points one gains and the better one’s

ranking (Ebner, 2019). Additional points can be obtained by visiting designated cultural

places and taking part in IB events (Prinz, 2017). Some assume that points could also be

earned by disrupting cultural or political events of adversaries or by disturbing the operation

of boats used to rescue refugees in the Mediterranean Sea (Brust, 2018).

Research suggests that the PBL-triad of gamification - points, badges and leaderboards

-, used in Patriot Peer, can increase feelings of competence and need satisfaction in users

(Sailer et al., 2017). Earning points, completing quests and improving one’s ranking, for

instance, can lead to a feeling of greater competency and agency, thereby satisfying important

psychological needs (van Roy & Zaman, 2019). The better one feels ‘playing’ the app and the

higher the psychological satisfaction derived from using it, the greater the likelihood of

sustained or even increased engagement. Gamification can support the development of user

loyalty and thereby facilitate the development of a strong and engaged support base for

extremist groups such as the IB. Affective states can be increased by the use of gamified

applications, including, for instance, excitement when one accomplishes a task or earns a

level-up (Robson et al, 2016). The more fun users experience, the more likely that

engagement will continue. Writing in the context of self-regulation and motivation, Bandura

(1991) explains that “extrinsic incentives can motivate partly by activating personal goals for

progressive improvement” (p. 265). Collecting points and moving up the virtual ranks provide

extrinsic incentives that can facilitate the players engagement by providing extrinsic

motivation to reach specific goals and improve their ranking. This is because “even simple

feedback of progress of trivial extrinsic incentives can enhance performance motivation once

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self-satisfaction becomes invested in the activity. Satisfaction in personal accomplishment

becomes the reward” (Bandura, 1991, p. 265). This may be especially true for players who

score high on self-orientation (Robson et al, 2016) and whose primary goal is their personal

achievement. Gamified elements could support radicalization processes by increasing the time

spend on the app and providing incentives to engage with its content more thoroughly,

thereby increasing exposure to extremist ideas. Through its goal of connecting like-minded

individuals, Patriot Peer also engages players who are not oriented towards themselves but

towards other players (Robson et al, 2016). These players are especially interested in social,

interactive experiences. The social aspect of gamification could increase the emotional

commitment to using the app and may lay the foundation group dynamics such as Sageman’s

(2004) ‘bunch of guys’, especially because the app encourages users to meet face-to-face in

order to earn even more points. By providing both competitive rankings and social

connections, Patriot Peer could speak to both types of players – self-oriented and community-

oriented - and facilitate their engagement with the app, its content and its users, which may

increase the chances of facilitating the users’ radicalization processes.

In addition to points and rankings, the game will supposedly contain a “Patriot Radar”

(Brust, 2018), which helps users locate and communicate with other patriots. Some therefore

have characterized the app as a hybrid between Tinder and Pokemon Go (Prinz, 2017); a tool

to find and engage other ‘patriots’, connecting with them and possibly dating them as well as

fulfilling ‘quests’ to earn points by attending designated events or visiting places deemed

culturally important. Gamified elements such as quests can motivate players to keep engaged

and turn the gamified experience into a social event by being able to complete the quests

together or by sharing photos and other evidence of the completion with other players.

According to the developers, the app will be used to turn the “resistance into a game” (Brust,

2018). The inclusion of points, levels and rankings are not new and present minor and rather

simple gamification elements. Nevertheless, the Patriot Peer example shows that extremist

organizations are aware of the benefits of including gamified elements into their propaganda

and networking tools and may, in the future, draw on a range of more sophisticated

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gamification tools such as avatars, journeys, and more nuanced intrinsic and extrinsic rewards

(Rapp, 2017), thereby strengthening the appeal of their applications for users and increasing

engagement with and loyalty to the group.

Bottom-up gamification

Gamification may not only occur because extremist organizations deliberately include

gamified design elements into their social media applications, forums or other tools for

propaganda dissemination and recruitment. It can also occur in a bottom-up manner, driven by

the individuals who are either currently in the process of radicalizing or who have radicalized

and share their actions in a gamified manner. The latter has been observed in multiple recent

attacks, including Christchurch (Macklin, 2019), El Paso (Evans, 2019), and Halle (Ayyadi,

2019). After the attack in Christchurch, for instance, users on 8chan commented on the high

body count the perpetrator ‘achieved’ and expressed a desire to ‘beat his score’ (Evans, 2019).

This is a clear reference to gaming language used in FPS games and suggests that users refer

to imaginary leaderboards when assessing the ‘success’ of shootings. Gamification, in this

case, is taking place organically and in a bottom-up manner as users intuitively turn their

shared experience of observing the shooting into an experience framed in gaming terms.

Perpetrators have gamified their attacks for themselves and those watching. In both

Christchurch and Halle, the extremist perpetrators livestreamed their attacks and commented

on their actions in real time, making references to gaming culture during the events. Watching

livestreams of video games has become increasingly popular within the gaming community.

In April 2018 alone, users have spent more than 128 million hours watching others play the

video game Fortnite on the livestreaming platform Twitch (Bowels, 2018). Livestreaming is a

way for both the perpetrator and the audience to gamify the experience. The perpetrator can

mirror the livestreaming of popular online games, turning the attack into a gamified and ‘fun’

action. This is exemplified, for instance, by the fact that the shooter in Halle, despite being a

native German, conducted parts of his livestream in English. By doing so, he not only

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increased his potential audience but also tapped into livestreaming as an internationally

popular experience (Ayyadi, 2019).

For the audience, the livestreams enable social engagement and interactive

communication about the stream in real time. Just as the gaming community actively

discusses livestreams of video games, observers can actively engage with the livestream of

the attack. Streaming resonates with those with prior exposure to gaming contents as it offers

the familiar visuals and modes of interaction. In other words, a familiarity in the form of

messaging can make livestreams of attacks appealing to those belonging to the gaming

community (see Schlegel, 2017 for a discussion of familiarity in online communication).

Livestreams gratify certain social-cognitive and affective needs, including the need to escape

reality, not only for the ‘players’ themselves but for the observers (Sjöblom & Hamari, 2017),

making it an appealing tool for propagandistic purposes. Livestreams can turn attacks into

gamified experiences by using visual imagery consistent with the mainstream gaming

community and offering space for interactive engagement with the content of the stream in

real-time. This is likely to be driven bottom-up by the perpetrators, not only to reach a larger

audience and increase their ‘celebrity status’, but because they are used to the gamified

experiences they now mirror in the real world.

Livestreaming turns attacks into a gamified experience for the perpetrator and the

audience. This gamification is self-driven by the attackers and presents the end point of a

radicalization process. However, bottom-up gamification can also occur at earlier stages in the

radicalization process. For instance, in 2016 a group of young men from Rochdale, UK,

interacted with each other through a WhatsApp group (McDonald, 2018). They were in the

process of jihadist radicalization and gamified they experience by conducting ‘raids’ against

individuals they perceived as ‘sorcerers’. They tracked them, took surveillance photos of

them, photographed themselves with jihadist symbols in places the person had been

photographed before, and shared their pictures with each other in the WhatsApp group; almost

engaging in a sort of ‘geocaching’ with a jihadist appeal. However, the groups’ actions did not

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end there. They also conducted ‘raids’, which included breaking into houses and stealing

‘black magic’ objects.

Raids are a popular element within video games such as WoW. During a raid, players

break into a dungeon, defeat an adversary such as a sorcerer, and collect points and valuable

assets such as armor as a reward for completing the ‘quest’ successfully. This is what the

group enacted in real life when they stole items from the ‘sorcerer’s ‘dungeon’ (house). The

young men from Rochdale gamified their own radicalization experience by conducting raids

they knew from video games and collecting peer recognition as well as social standing as

rewards for their actions. They transferred their experiences with games and popular culture

into the real world to gamify a context traditionally regarded in non-gaming terms. The

‘quests’ they completed, such as stealing a book, helped them progress further towards

becoming fully radicalized and culminated in the death of one of the alleged ‘sorcerers’

(McDonald, 2018). This case also illustrates the importance of the feeling of community and

the social relations gamification can facilitate. In WoW, it is in the context of guilds that

players execute raids of dungeons and, as research has shown, the social aspect of gaming is

very important for a large number of players (Rapp, 2017). The young men combined highly

social activities, namely social media communications and photo sharing on WhatsApp, with

elements of gamification such as raids and quests, without being instructed or encouraged to

do so. It was an organic, bottom-up gamification of Sageman’s ‘bunch of guys’ (2004; 2008)

radicalizing together and each other.

As we have seen, some elements of gamification have appeared in contemporary

extremist and terrorist actions originating in both top-down and bottom-up fashion. The

widespread application of gamified elements in non-gaming contexts is still in its infancy, but

it is not unreasonable to assume that more gamified elements will be used for propaganda and

radicalization purposes as gamification becomes more widespread. It is not unlikely that

gamification will become a more important element of extremist social media apps and other

tools as its positive effects, for instance on engagement, become more obvious and more well

known. It is also likely that gamification will move from the application of rather simple

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elements such as the PBL-triad to more sophisticated gamified elements (Rapp, 2017), e.g.

personal narratives and virtual companionship (Fox & Barnes, 2016).

Games as facilitators of radicalization

In addition to facilitating radicalization by applying game-like elements in non-gaming

contexts, it could also be facilitated by casual games. Recent years have seen an increasing

focus on the radicalization and recruitment of teenagers and children. For instance, in 2016 a

12-year-old was arrested in Germany for planning a bombing attack at a Christmas market

(Die Welt, 2018), and in 2015 a 14-year-old was arrested in the UK for acting as the ‘puppet

master’ for a planned attack in Australia (Scaife, 2017). The extremists’ target audience

becomes increasingly younger and part of the effort to utilize this potential is by using some

form of ‘play’. But gaming is not only entertainment for minors (Quandt et al, 2009) and

while sometimes referred to as a ‘subculture’ (Harrison et al, 2017; Meikle & Wade, 2015;

Gubagaras et al, 2008), video games are more adequately classified as elements of

mainstream culture as 1/3 of the world’s population, almost 2.5 billion people, played video

games in 2019 (FinancesOnline, 2020). These numbers suggest that games, including violent

FPS games, are familiar points of reference for a large amount of people and therefore an

appealing tool for extremist propaganda dissemination (Bourke, 2014; Kang, 2014) but also

signaling activities, including to position themselves against other non-state actor adversaries

such as Hezbollah’s FPS game letting the player fight against ISIS (Rose, 2018). Beyond their

natural appeal as social practices of ‘play’, games may facilitate (susceptibility to)

radicalization in a number of ways. In the following, moral disengagement, familiarity, self-

efficacy and retropian appeal are briefly introduced, but much more elaborate research is

needed on these and other themes.

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Moral disengagement and desensitization

It has long been postulated that dehumanizing language and moral disengagement

mechanisms can facilitate violent behavior and played an important role in the perpetration of

mass atrocities such as the holocaust or the genocide in Rwanda (Mukimbiri, 2005). Most

people have a relatively stable moral compass and do not normally engage in violence.

However, moral reasoning is selectively activated and can be deactivated through a variety of

psychological mechanisms (Bandura, 1990) to make the exercise of violence easier. While

dehumanization is often understood as changing the perception of the victim of violence,

Bandura’s (2018) description of moral disengagement also includes euphemistic labeling,

diffusion of responsibility, distorting the effects of violence and advantageous comparison

with the enemy, which points to moral disengagement as also transforming perceptions of

violence itself. Therefore, his theory remains applicable to both individual and collective

violence despite recent critiques that dehumanization as a victim-centered process may not

increase the potential for violence (Lang, 2020). Bandura has shown that proneness to moral

disengagement predicts criminal acts, including the exercise of violence (Bandura, 1999).

Moral justifications for violence and the mechanisms Bandura described are often utilized by

extremist organizations, including the dehumanization of (potential) victims (Koomen & van

der Pligt, 2017), the displacement of responsibility - for instance, on Allah (Bandura, 2002b)-,

advantageous comparison and other linguistic strategies (Windsor, 2018).

Rather unsurprisingly, many popular FPS games make extensive use of the

mechanisms of moral disengagement. These include advantageous comparison by setting the

background story in such a way that the ‘enemy’ has perpetrated outrageous atrocities while

the retaliatory violence exercised by the player is tame in comparison and only used to restore

justice or prevent greater evil, as well as the distortion of consequences by “sanitized

portrayals” (Hartman et al, 2014, p. 314) of killing while at the same time making

dehumanization more vivid by increasingly realistic graphics, which have a higher impact on

players than less sophisticated graphic displays of violence (Hartman et al, 2014). In other

words, while the games are increasingly realistic in graphic portrayals of, for instance, ‘cool’

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fight scenes and detailed weaponry, the consequences of violence are sanitized and distorted,

for instance by bodies disappearing after having been killed or an unrealistic display of

injuries. These properties of video games, especially FPS games, support moral

disengagement practices in the player. Research has shown that violent games affect players

in various ways. Short-term exposure to violent video games, for instance, can lead to the

reduction of neurological (Engelhardt et al, 2011), cognitive, emotional and behavioral

responses to violent stimuli (Brockmyer, 2015); in short, it leads to a habituation (Grizzard et

al, 2014) and desensitization to violence, which can reduce empathy (Funk et al, 2004).

Long-term exposure has an even more pronounced effect, reducing, for instance, the reaction

to everyday violence by making it seem ‘lame’ in comparison to the actions of avatars in

video games (Greitemeyer, 2014).

It has been shown that values, perceptions, and perceived sanctions of transgressive or

violent behavior are influenced by repeated exposure to models on TV depicting such values

or behaviors (Bandura, 2001). Games may have an even stronger effect on moral

disengagement than watching TV or movies, because players are actively engaged and can

become immersed into the story by identifying with the characters of the game (Brockmyer,

2015). Killing is made to appear exciting, fun and ’clean’ by distorting the consequences of

violence and rewarding players for their engagement in violent deeds. This is one of the

reasons the US army uses video games to desensitize soldiers during training (Funk et al,

2003). While it is unlikely that the moral disengagement mechanisms in video games can be

causally linked to the adherence to extremist ideologies, these games could make players

more susceptible to radicalization through habituation to violent content. Moral

disengagement is selectively activated, and games enable players to ‘practice’ such

disengagement and link it to entertainment, heroism, and rewards. Through increased

interactivity and the personalization of avatars (Lin, 2013), players can strongly identify with

the game’s characters and their goals, potentially generating callousness to (the exercise of)

real-world violence (Greitemeyer, 2014). Players of such games are already familiar with

violent content and are accustomed to cognitive moral disengagement, which might increase

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their susceptibility to similar extremist content and contribute to a habitual understanding of

violence that could be taken advantage of by recruiters as it arguable already has in relation to

the recruitment of former criminals (Ilan & Sandberg, 2019).

Familiarity and pop culture

Video games are so widely played across the globe that they are part of popular

culture, transcending linguistic and cultural differences and evoking feelings of familiarity in

a large portion of youngsters and adults. Albeit their often backward-looking ideology and

nostalgic longing for the past, both contemporary jihadist and right-wing extremist groups are,

fundamentally, products of modernity and have utilized references to pop culture in the

framing of propaganda elements. Various ways in which jihadists have utilized pop culture

frames have been uncovered, including choosing nicknames such as Irhabi 007 [Terrorist

007] alluding to widely-known MI6 agent James Bond, “MTV Jihadism” (Stenersen, p.123)

mirroring the styles of Western music videos, or copying the style of FPS game

advertisements, seeking to utilize the ‘coolness’ of video games for recruitment purposes

(Ostovar, 2017). Clearly, popular culture is an important point of reference and increases the

appeal of propaganda material.

Utilizing familiar gaming imagery and practice in propaganda efforts may increase

(susceptibility to) radicalization processes as familiar frames are more likely to resonate with

the consumers of propaganda and create a feeling of familiarity and belonging. Familiarity in

messaging and similarity to the messenger can facilitate the resonance of extremist narratives.

We are more inclined to adhere to messages framed in familiar terms and communicated via

familiar media. Because video games are so popular and widespread, games - like TV

(Bandura, 2001) - are important tools of mass communication capable of transmitting systems

of belief to wide audiences. Especially in the digital world, content made by digital natives for

digital natives (Prensky, 2001) can increase the likelihood of not only believing the message

but identifying with it, marking the first step to the construction of a virtual community and a

feeling of belonging (Schlegel, 2017). In a similar vein, content made by gamers for gamers

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colored by ideological beliefs can increase the resonance of this content and the identification

with the narratives underlying the game’s story. It has already been shown that mass

communication tools can influence beliefs. For instance, the acceptance of rape myths

increased after playing games including the sexual objectification of women (Beck et al,

2012) and there are TV programs successfully changing people’s beliefs and behavior in the

field of health or gender relations (Bandura, 2018). The influence of games on beliefs takes

place subconsciously: Users engage in a fun and emotionally stimulating activity they are

familiar with and think of as ‘cool’ while almost incidentally engaging with ideological

messages. This can reduce the resistance users might have shown to methods where

persuasion tactics are obvious and potentially increase susceptibility to radicalization efforts.

Self-perception and self-efficacy

Research on narratives has shown that identification with the characters displayed in

stories is an essential part of narrative persuasion (Braddock & Horgan, 2016). Stories are

perceived as captivating and resonate with people if they can relate and empathize with one or

more characters and understand their goals; a truly human capacity embodied in the ‘theory of

mind’ (Cobley, 2014). Psychological research has recently discovered that stories resonate

even on a neurological level: When we read about someone running through a dark forest, our

brains are more active in the areas responsible for running and seeing in the dark (Cavanagh,

2019). On a neurological and psychological level, identification with characters in fictional

stories transmitted through various types of media takes place, which increases retention and

resonance of the story’s content.

(Self-) identification processes can also take place in video games (Guegan et al,

2015). Some individuals seem to identify with the broader settings of the FPS games they

play. For instance, the Columbine shooters stated on the audio tape they recorded prior to the

attack that “it’s [the attack] going to be like fucking Doom” (McDonald, 2018, p. 101),

anticipating their future actions in relation to the context of the popular game Doom and

believing that “they will undertake a story in which they are the lead characters” (McDonald,

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2018, p. 101). Other individuals may not only identify with the setting of the game but

specifically with the characters they play. Today’s games are immersing players more

effectively, because identification with characters is stronger due to technical advances such

as avatar customization (Fischer et al, 2010; Jenson et al, 2015) and increasingly realistic,

interactive gameplay. Avatars are often constructed as idealized versions of the self one

aspires to be (Ducheneaut et al, 2009). If this is the case, identification with the actions and

goals of the avatar are more likely as they are perceived as better version of the self. The

higher the degree of this identification with the avatars, the higher the potential for violence if

the game has a violent content (Lin, 2013), because it causes a “temporal shift of players’

self-perception” (Klimmt et al, 2009, p. 351) and they become the avatar, with all the goals

and actions associated with it.

However, it is not only the identification with violent deeds of characters that can

facilitate susceptibility to radicalization but also the growth in perceived self-efficacy derived

from such identification. Self-efficacy is the most central mechanism of human agency

(Bandura & Locke, 2003) and “is concerned with people’s beliefs in their capabilities to

produce given attainments” (Bandura, 2012, p. 15). Self-efficacy has proven to be a reliable

concept for the study of various behavioral contexts (Bandura, 1997), including radicalization

processes (Schlegel, 2019). Self-efficacy is increased, for example, by both mastery and

vicarious experiences, that is, by acting ourselves and by observing the actions of others

(Bandura, 2012). Video games are a hybrid between these two factors: players actively

engage in violent actions, yet the experiences are vicarious as only the avatars they identify

with transform pressing a button into a virtual violent deed. Increasingly realistic graphics,

avatar personalization and interactivity that empowers perceptions of agency, make games

social practices that can enhance self-efficacy beliefs, which may be transported to the offline

realm. Players are rehearsing aggressive cognitive scripts (Comstock & Scharrer, 2005)

during gameplay and because they identify to such a large degree with the avatar, games can

provide the cognitive simulation needed to enhance self-efficacy beliefs and the drive to take

action (Bandura, 1989). In short, because players have complete control over their avatars’

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actions and identify with them, the cognitive scripts practiced in the context of the game can

translate into the offline sphere. Video games might facilitate violent radicalization because

personalized avatars enable players to engage in virtual mastery experiences - cognitive

practices of violent acts -, which could increase their perceived self-efficacy in relation to

violence in the offline world. Therefore, repeated exposure to violent games may not only

desensitize to violence and facilitate moral disengagement, it may translate into increased

self-efficacy beliefs, which in turn increase the likelihood of believing in one’s own agency to

take violent action. This increased self-efficacy can then lead to greater confidence in being

able to take violent action, potentially contributing to radicalization process (Schlegel, 2019).

History, heroism and ‘when life mattered’

Many contemporary extremist movements advocate a ‘retropian’ vision (Bauman,

2018); that is, a return to a glorified past, which may or may not be an accurate representation

of history. In fact, it is unimportant whether the past was as glorious as it is presented as long

as the ‘collective illusion’ (Bandura, 2001) is believable and the social imaginary upheld by

the group constructs the past as a nostalgic era one should aspire to return to, because back

then ‘life mattered’ (Hong, 2015), family traditions were upheld and heroic, hyper-masculine

warriors were still respected (Kolvraa, 2019). Seen in this light, contemporary extremist

movements are closely related to and seek to utilize the ‘quest for significance’ (Kruglanski et

al, 2019); the longing to matter not only here and now but to return to a whole era of

significance depicted in the retropian vision. These retropian collective illusions are

transmitted through very modern media communication tools such as social media

applications, leading some to speak of a ‘paradoxical conflation’ of longing for a past that

existed centuries ago with the digitalized experience of everyday life (Atwan, 2015). Video

games too can transmit such retropian visions and facilitate the normalization of a nostalgic

yearning for a return to a time when, supposedly, the world was still as it should be.

Hong (2015) postulates that we live in an “age of simulation” (p.36), during which

generations of youngsters are exposed to heroic events and mythology primarily through

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games. Games often create visions of a heroic past, during which ‘life mattered’ and no new

avenues for ‘quests of significance’ were needed, because one was significant if only heroic

enough to fight. These visions, Hong argues, do not need to be accurate, just ‘real enough’ so

that “we are able to play as if we believe this could have been real” (p. 37). Games have the

power to change the players’ perception of reality; they are social practices requiring players

to engage with the demarcation between the real, the imagined and the ‘real enough’ in

between. They can therefore immerse players in imaginary yet ‘real enough’ worlds and

communicate the visions of retropia or evoking nostalgia for an era ‘when life mattered’,

thereby normalizing an important aspect of contemporary extremist propaganda and

potentially setting the stage for a ‘quest of significance’ in the real world to (re-) establish this

past. Through the increasingly realistic and interactive design of games, players can become

immersed into and directly experience the retropian visions advocated by extremist

organizations, which may present a strong motivational force to return to such a glorious past.

That the barriers between the imaginary realm of games and behavior in the real world

are fading is not only a theoretical possibility. Not only can games offer “a feeling of power in

a powerless situation, a sense of structure in a chaotic environment” (McGonigal, 2011, p.6),

they can shape perception of and behavior within that environment. Wagner (2012) argues

that contemporary religious clashes attest to believers ‘playing’ religion like a FPS game.

Video games, she argues, mirror and express cultural changes and provide us with

‘interpretive maps’ (p.182) or ‘temporal algorithmic order’ (p.195) of how to organize reality

and, by extension, religion. Religious behavior, including religious-inspired violence, is

linked to a Manichean view of life with clear instructions of who is friend and who is foe, and

the intense agency FPS games provide, making the individual (as opposed to authority

figures) feel powerful, chosen and capable to act. Both games and contemporary religious

practice advocate for individual agency and responsibility to fight evil, making the barrier

between the two porous. Similarly to the quest of significance theory of radicalization

(Kruglanski et al, 2019), Wagner (2012) writes “the tendency to play religion as a game is a

direct result of the need for purpose (...) Attempts to deal with postmodern chaos of belief can

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be terrifying and thus may at times result in angry retrenchment into dualistic game-like

patterns of interpersonal encounter” (p.191, emphasis mine). Games, therefore, can not only

immerse players in retropian stories and familiarize them with narratives of ‘when life

mattered’, but can facilitate Manichean perceptions of the world while simultaneously

strengthen individual agency to act. It has been shown that beliefs can be disseminated and

changed through mass media such as TV programs (Bandura, 2001), and because games

require the active involvement of players, they may be even more successful in doing so as

players identify with their avatars and boost the belief in their own agency by navigating

games successfully (Duchenaut et al, 2009; Lin, 2013; Fischer et al, 2013). Video games with

extremist content may play a part in facilitating susceptibility to radicalization by

familiarizing individuals with narrative structures, such as a return to a glorified past, the

importance of individual agency and the individual capability (if not duty) to fight evil,

advocated by many contemporary extremist movements.

Cautions and limitations

Radicalization, whether it takes place online or offline, is a multifaceted phenomenon unique

to each individual case. Therefore, it is difficult to establish the relative weight of the various

factors facilitating and driving radicalization processes. Naturally, an exploration of a specific

factor such as games and gamification, must be read with caution. It is not possible to

determine the relative importance of gaming elements in radicalization and the article should

be read as a Weberian ideal type analysis highlighting a single factor rather than providing a

comprehensive account of radicalization. Current research is inconclusive in linking games to

aggression or violent behavior and the field of gamification research is so young that our

knowledge about the specific mechanisms and conditions under which gamification operates

and its influence relative to other factors aimed at increasing engagement, must be regarded as

limited. Given that it is already difficult to establish causality between violent games and

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aggression, an empirically robust causality between playing games and radicalization cannot

be established at this point.

This article, like so many others in extremism studies, suffers from lack of primary

data. Large parts of the analysis are based on the theoretical application of findings acquired

during research unrelated to the study of extremism and radicalization processes. For instance,

showing a short-term increase in aggression after playing a video game in an experimental

setting is far removed from correlating video games to the adoption of an extremist

worldview, much less perpetrating an act of terrorism. We need to be careful not to treat

evidence of low-level aggression as automatically applicable to an explanation of behavioral

radicalization and be critical of the validity of generalizing from experimental contexts to real

world violence. Human behavior is so “richly contextualized and conditionally expressed”

(Bandura, 2002a, p.276) that it is impossible to conclude that games and/or gamification by

themselves facilitate radicalization. Games and gamification have been used for quite some

time by extremist organizations, but we are only beginning to understand their potential

influence on radicalization. Further research is needed to back up the theoretical claims made

in this work and increase the amount of empirical data - such as in-depth analyses of games

and gamified social media applications - in order to develop a stronger basis upon which to

judge the role of games and gamification in radicalization processes.

Notwithstanding these methodological limitations, the discussion above is of value.

Games and gamification are increasingly being used by extremist organizations and it is

reasonable to assume that both tools will become more prominent in the years to come.

Gamification is only starting to be applied widely for various purposes and it is likely that

once its benefits are more rigorously established and social media users become acquainted to

it, extremist organizations will pay even closer attention to how they could utilize

gamification for their own goals. Games too are popular with a large audience and have

moved from the realm of individual entertainment to a tool of social engagement, available

not only via computers but on smartphones and other handheld devices, increasing the

opportunities games present to extremist organizations. It is therefore necessary for the

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research community to engage with games and gamification and their relation to

radicalization processes both theoretically and empirically in the future.

Conclusion

Both gamification and video games have the potential to influence radicalization processes.

Top-down as well as bottom-up gamification have already been observed in relation to

extremism, attesting to the increasing prominence gamified elements have for the

development of tools by extremist organizations, such as the Patriot Peer app, for extremist

violence as a gamified ‘performance’ via livestreaming and for individual radicalization

processes, exemplified by the young men ‘raiding the sorcerer's dungeon’ during their

radicalization process. Video games too may increase susceptibility to radicalization by

desensitizing individuals to violence, helping them ‘practice’ moral disengagement,

increasing the appeal and resonance of propaganda material by familiar imagery and

references to gaming culture, supporting the growth of self-efficacy beliefs in relation to

violent deeds, and by immersing players in narratives of a time ‘when life mattered’, thereby

familiarizing them with a certain outlook on the world potentially capable of inspiring actions

in the offline realm.

Due to spatial constraints many ways in which games and gamified elements could

facilitate radicalization have only been touched upon in this article. Bottom-up and top-down

gamification as well as the role of games in desensitization to extremist violence, the use of

familiar pop culture imagery, self-efficacy, the ‘when life mattered’ theme and others, can and

should be researched in more depth in relation to radicalization processes. To this end,

research collaborations between, for instance, scholars of game design, Internet sociology,

computer interaction with human behavior, advertising, digital education or the

technologization of social life more generally, with experts on radicalization and extremism

would be fruitful. Additionally, while the present article was focused on gamification and

casual games used primarily for entertainment, a discussion of the potential role of serious

Linda Schlegel: Jumanji Extremism? How games and gamification could facilitate

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games, played with the intent of acquiring or improving a skill, not only in radicalization

processes but for recruitment and training purposes is to be encouraged. If games and/or

gamification would prove to be useful tools in facilitating (susceptibility to) radicalization, the

possibilities of mirroring these elements in de-radicalization programs also deserve attention.

Games and gamified elements do not by themselves give rise to radicalization

processes, but both can draw players in, immerse them more tightly within extremist

communities, cause increased engagement and identification with extremist content and, like

Jumanji, provide a gateway or “a game for those who seek to find a way to leave their world

behind”. Much like when playing Jumanji, these gaming elements can influence the players’

perception of reality, advocating the illusion they can become (or rather, come to mirror) the

avatars they have chosen to represent themselves in the game. With new technological

possibilities such as improved virtual reality tools and their increasingly widespread

application in everyday lives, games and gamification may become more important in the

future; for societies as a whole and extremist organizations within them.

Linda Schlegel: Jumanji Extremism? How games and gamification could facilitate

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Findings From an Explorative Interview Study on Older Computer Gamers. Games and

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approach. Computers in Human Behavior. Vol. 71, pp. 455-468

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experimental study of the effects of specific game design elements on psychological need

satisfaction. Computers in Human Behavior. Vol. 69, pp. 371-380

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About the JD Journal for Deradicalization

The JD Journal for Deradicalization is the world’s only peer reviewed periodical for the

theory and practice of deradicalization with a wide international audience. Named an

“essential journal of our times” (Cheryl LaGuardia, Harvard University) the JD’s editorial

board of expert advisors includes some of the most renowned scholars in the field of

deradicalization studies, such as Prof. Dr. John G. Horgan (Georgia State University); Prof.

Dr. Tore Bjørgo (Norwegian Police University College); Prof. Dr. Mark Dechesne (Leiden

University); Prof. Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss (American University Washington); Prof. Dr.

Julie Chernov Hwang (Goucher College); Prof. Dr. Marco Lombardi, (Università Cattolica

del Sacro Cuore Milano); Dr. Paul Jackson (University of Northampton); Professor Michael

Freeden, (University of Nottingham); Professor Hamed El-Sa'id (Manchester Metropolitan

University); Prof. Sadeq Rahimi (University of Saskatchewan, Harvard Medical School), Dr.

Omar Ashour (University of Exeter), Prof. Neil Ferguson (Liverpool Hope University), Prof.

Sarah Marsden (Lancaster University), Dr. Kurt Braddock (Pennsylvania State University),

Dr. Michael J. Williams (Georgia State University), and Dr. Aaron Y. Zelin (Washington

Institute for Near East Policy), Prof. Dr. Adrian Cherney (University of Queensland).

For more information please see: www.journal-derad.com

Twitter: @JD_JournalDerad

Facebook: www.facebook.com/deradicalisation

The JD Journal for Deradicalization is a proud member of the Directory of Open Access

Journals (DOAJ).

ISSN: 2363-9849

Editor in Chief: Daniel Koehler

Developmental milestones and terrorism: age-linked variations in risk assessment

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2024

Purpose Against a backdrop of an increasingly younger terrorist cohort within His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, this study aims to explore the relationship between age and various Extremism Risk Guidance 22+ (ERG22+) assessment outcomes. Design/methodology/approach A database of 490 individuals was developed by coding content of ERG22+ reports from 2010 to 2021, equating to nearly all cases in England and Wales across this time period. Socio-demographic information, offending histories, online activities and risk factors were coded for all individuals. This study focuses on 465 individuals convicted of terrorist/terrorist-related offending, with statistical analyses used to compare three age groups: “20 and under” (61 cases), 21–25 (133 cases) and “26 and over” (271 cases). Findings Significant associations were found between presence of certain behaviours/characteristics and age groups. For those aged 20 and under, a heightened propensity for excitement, comradeship and adventure, along with greater susceptibility to influence and need for status were generally key to offending pathways, with a diminished likelihood of a prior criminal history. Of the three ERG22+ dimensions, findings indicate a weak but significant negative correlation between age and engagement levels. Practical implications Recommendations include ensuring extremism risk assessments reflect age-specific behaviours and tendencies, that interventions are tailored to address common age-related vulnerabilities, and the need for age-specific policies to support and manage children and young adults within the counter-terrorism space. Originality/value These novel findings point towards notable developmental milestones in adolescence, affecting behavioural tendencies and risk. This underscores the importance of age as a determinant when interpreting extremism risk assessments.

EDUCAÇÃO PARA A EXTREMA DIREITA: UMA REVISÃO BILBIOGRÁFICA DO USO DE VIDEOGAMES COMO FERRAMENTA DE RADICALIZAÇÃO DA JUVENTUDEEDUCATION FOR THE FAR-RIGHT: A LITERATURE REVIEW ON THE USE OF VIDEO GAMES AS A TOOL FOR YOUTH RADICALIZATIONEDUCACIÓN PARA LA EXTREMA DERECHA: UNA REVISIÓN BIOGRÁFICA DEL USO DE LOS VIDEOJUEGOS COMO HERRAMIENTA PARA LA RADICALIZACIÓN JUVENILEDUCAÇÃO PARA A EXTREMA DIREITA O: UMA REVISÃO BILBIOGRÁFICA DO USO DE VIDEOGAMES COMO FERRAMENTA DE RADICALIZAÇÃO DA JUVENTUDE

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2024

Videogames are one of the most popular and relevant types of media today, driving a multi-million dollar global industry and instrumentalizing social, political and cultural issues. However, there is a constant and growing presence of hate speech and harassment in online gaming environments. This study aims to carry out a systematic literature review through an electronic search of articles in databases, using the recommendations of the PRISMA 2020 protocol, focusing on the interactions between far-right movements and the videogame culture and gamer communities, and the influences of this extremist discourse in these contexts. It was possible to observe recurring questions about the history of the video game industry, forms of recruitment and radicalization in gamer spaces, community involvement with far-right agents and ideologies, and practices of appropriation and use of characteristics specific to video games or its community in the propagation of extremist discourses.

Exploring the digital extremist ecosystem: a preliminary analysis of hateful posts on Mod DB

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2025

The last 4 years have seen a stark increase in research on extremist activities in digital gaming spaces, particularly on gaming- and gaming-adjacent platforms. However, one area that has not received much attention so far are mod forums. While a large number of mods with hateful content have been created over the last two decades, the forums used to disseminate and discuss such mods have not yet been examined by extremism researchers. Considering the popularity of modding and mod forums among gaming communities, this is a crucial gap in our current understanding of extremist activities in digital gaming spaces. In an effort to address this research gap, this article offers an exploratory analysis of hateful and extremist posts on the popular mod forum Mod DB, including right-wing extremist, jihadist, antisemitic and mixed-ideology content. We seek to provide a preliminary glimpse into this under-researched digital space, complementing existing research on extremist activities on other gaming (−adjacent) platforms. Our research thereby broadens the current state of knowledge regarding the various gaming-related platforms frequented by extremist actors and radicalized individuals and contributes new insights about a thus far under-explored digital space.

Propuesta de una taxonomía de los avatares en las películas. Proposal for a taxonomy of avatars in movies

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2025

En las últimas décadas los avatares han sido empleados cada vez más dentro del ámbito cinematográfico. Es por ello que esta investigación tiene como objetivo analizar los diferentes tipos de avatares y presentar una taxonomía que sirva de referencia para categorizar sus diversos usos e implicaciones en la narratología y los personajes. Se seleccionaron más de cincuenta películas y se realizó un análisis fílmico de carácter temático discursivo. Tras una previa distinción básica respecto a la dualidad cuerpo-mente para entender el concepto de avatar aplicado, los resultados apuntan a tres principios o factores. El primero es el grado de divergencia entre mundos o contextos entre el personaje y el avatar, el segundo es el grado de existencia o conciencia propia del avatar y, el tercero, el grado de diferenciación psicofísica entre personaje y avatar. Se observa que el hecho de que estos niveles sean altos, bajos o nulos, conlleva diferentes implicaciones dentro de los filmes que afectan a los personajes, sus tramas e, incluso, a las posibles temáticas propuestas tanto principales como secundarias. Se termina ejemplificando el uso de esta taxonomía y se concluye que puede ser de utilidad y referencia para futuras categorizaciones y empleo de los avatares dentro del amplio e innovador universo cinematográfico.

The structure and dynamics of the video games industry

Chapter

Full-text available

Nov 2024

Thomas Paris

The video games industry in Europe has undergone significant transformations over the past five decades, evolving from a simple form of entertainment to a multifaceted economic powerhouse. This evolution reflects not only technological advancements but also changes in consumer behaviour and market dynamics. The industry's growth has positioned it as a major player in the global economy, with global revenues generated by players estimated at around USD 187 billion in 2024.2 The video games industry shares core professions with other creative sectors, such as design and development (studios), financing and production (publishers), and distribution. Its unique value chain is characterised by the fact that it integrates technological elements to the creative ones, such as console manufacture and software publishing for the development of game engines. This interplay has led to the emergence of major players in both European and global markets. The industry is now highly segmented, with a wide variety of genres, platforms, and economic models, with mobile gaming emerging as a dominant revenue-generating force alongside traditional console and PC gaming. Technological progress has driven the video games industry's evolution, from early consoles in the 1970s to modern developments like real-time 3D graphics, online multiplayer, and mobile gaming. The industry is now segmented by game genres—such as strategy, adventure, role-playing, and sports—and by support, ranging from consoles to mobile gaming. Economic models have also diversified, with free-to-play and subscription models complementing traditional one-off purchase systems. The rise of free-to-play models has reshaped revenue strategies, emphasising player retention over initial sales, and expanding the audience beyond traditional gamers. Various factors also suggest that the video games sector is subject to significant volatility. These range from regulatory changes, including the introduction of video game tax credits, such as in Canada and France, to retain talents and remain competitive; technological advancements, such as Games as a Service (GaaS) which have changed revenue models and game design; and market shifts, with the rise of cloud gaming services of major tech companies, followed by a period of significant acquisitions. Specific challenges include regulatory scrutiny of some economic models, such as hypercasual games and loot boxes, and government intervention, such as China's restrictions on the use of video games, impacting major companies like Tencent and NetEase. These factors highlight the industry's sensitivity to external forces and its rapid evolution in response to technological, regulatory, and market changes.

Violent Video Games, Recruitment and Extremism

Article

Apr 2025
Crim Justice Ethics

Communication provision of antiterrorist activities of the European Union in the 21st century

Book

Jan 2024

Darya Bazarkina

The monograph aims to assess the role of communication provision in the antiterrorism activities of the European Union from 2001 to the present. To do this, it was necessary to identify the main features of communication provision and formulate its scientifically based definition. The author analyzes the communication aspect of three branches of terrorism – far-left, far-right and quasi-religious, and also identifies the threat of using artificial intelligence in the psychological manipulation of terrorists. Main result of the study is an assessment of the nature of communication provision for the work of EU antiterrorism agencies. The monograph includes updated and supplemented results of the author’s dissertation research for the degree of Doctor of Political Sciences «The role of communication provision in the antiterrorist activities of the European Union».

Die Rolle digitaler Medien im Prozess der islamistischen Radikalisierung und das diesbezügliche Präventionspotenzial des islamischen Religionsunterrichts – Eine Interviewstudie zu den subjektiven Theorien von Lehrenden an den Zentren und Instituten für Islamische Theologie

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2024

Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die subjektiven Theorien von Lehrenden an den Zentren und Instituten für Islamische Theologie in Bezug auf das Radikalisierungspotenzial digitaler Medien sowie auf das diesbezügliche Deradikalisierungspotenzial des islamischen Religionsunterrichts. Im Rahmen des Projekts UWIT wurden hierzuqualitative Interviews mit 26 Lehrenden aus den Studiengängen der Islamischen Theologie an elf der 13 Hochschulstandorte in Deutschland geführt. Diese Lehrenden bilden u. a. zukünftige Religionslehrer:innen für den islamischen Religionsunterricht sowie islamische Theolog:innen aus. Die subjektiven Theorien dieser Lehrenden sind besonders relevant, da sie empirisch evident handlungsleitend wirken und somit u. a. die Ausbildung sowie mittelbar die pädagogischen Zugänge der zukünftigen Religionslehrer:innen beeinflussen. Diese Lehrkräfte sind wiederum Multiplikator:innen, die in ihrer Tätigkeit die Perspektiven junger Muslim:innen prägen. Dem islamischen Religionsunterricht wird insofern oft eine zentrale Rolle bei der Prävention islamistischer Radikalisierung zugeschrieben, obwohl dies empirisch bisher nicht ausreichend erforscht ist. Die Studie zeigt, dass nicht alle befragten Lehrenden das Radikalisierungspotenzial digitaler Medien gleichermaßen wahrnehmen. Jene, die dieses Potenzial erkennen, problematisieren insbesondere die niedrigschwellige Zugänglichkeit und Anonymität digitaler Plattformen, die es islamistischen Gruppen ermöglichen, gezielt Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene anzusprechen. Sie betonen zudem die Gefahr der dualistischen Darstellung islamistischer Inhalte, die besonders ansprechend für Jugendliche in Krisensituationen ist. Als Gegenmaßnahme sehen die Lehrenden den islamischen Religionsunterricht als ein potenziell wirksames Instrument zur Prävention an, sofern dieser lebensweltorientiert gestaltet ist und gezielt eine kritisch-reflexive Medienkompetenz fördert. Sie heben ferner die Notwendigkeit hervor, dass zukünftige Religionslehrer:innen diesbezügliche (Medien-)Kompetenzen während ihrer Ausbildung erwerben, um Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene effektiv darin zu unterstützen, islamistische Inhalte zu erkennen und kritisch zu hinterfragen.

Phänomenübergreifende Extremismusprävention mittels Gaming: Das Projekt Call of Prev

Article

Feb 2024

Das Potenzial des Gaming für die Bearbeitung gruppenbezogener Menschenfeindlichkeit ist in der Bildungsarbeit angekommen. Während im lebens-weltlichen Ansatz in den 2000er-Jahren noch auf traditionelle Jugendkulturen wie HipHop, Punk und Metal gesetzt wurde, bietet sich in den letzten zehn Jahren vermehrt der Bereich des Gaming an, um mit Jugendlichen interessengeleitet zu arbeiten – auch in der Extremismus Prävention. Im Artikel wird beschrieben, wie Extremist*innen Games einsetzen, warum sich der Einsatz von Games in der Prävention anbietet und welche konkreten Erfahrungen im Projekt Call of Prev gemacht wurden.

Das Videospiel: Organisation und Dynamik der Industrie

Chapter

Full-text available

Nov 2024

Thomas Paris

und sich von einer reinen Unterhaltungsbranche zu einem vielseitigen Wirtschaftsfaktor entwickelt. Diese Entwicklung spiegelt nicht nur technologische Fortschritte wider, sondern auch Veränderungen im Verbraucherverhalten und in der Marktdynamik. Das Wachstum der Branche hat sie zu einem wichtigen Akteur in der Weltwirtschaft gemacht, wobei die von den Markteilnehmern weltweit erzielten Einnahmen im Jahr 2024 auf rund 187 Milliarden USD geschätzt werden. 2 Die Videospielindustrie hat die gleichen Kernberufe wie andere kreative Sektoren, z. B. Design und Entwicklung (Studios), Finanzierung und Produktion (Publisher) und Vertrieb. Ihre einzigartige Wertschöpfungskette zeichnet sich dadurch aus, dass sie technologische Elemente mit kreativen verbindet, wie zum Beispiel die Herstellung von Konsolen und das Software-Publishing für die Entwicklung von Spiel-Engines. Dieses Zusammenspiel hat dazu geführt, dass sowohl auf dem europäischen als auch auf dem globalen Markt große Akteure entstanden sind. Die Branche ist heute stark segmentiert, mit einer großen Vielfalt an Genres, Plattformen und Wirtschaftsmodellen, wobei sich Mobile Gaming neben den traditionellen Konsolen- und PC-Spielen zu einer dominierenden, umsatzstarken Kraft entwickeln. Der technologische Fortschritt hat die Entwicklung der Videospielindustrie vorangetrieben, von den ersten Konsolen in den 1970er Jahren bis hin zu modernen Fortschritten wie Echtzeit-3D-Grafik, Online-Multiplayer und Mobile Gaming. Die Branche ist heute nach Spielgenres - wie Strategie, Abenteuer, Rollenspiel und Sport - und nach Plattformen - von Konsolen bis hin zu mobilen Geräten - unterteilt. Auch die Wirtschaftsmodelle haben sich diversifiziert, wobei Free-to-Play- und Abonnementmodelle die traditionellen auf einem einmaligen Kauf beruhenden Systeme ergänzen. Der Aufstieg von Free-to-Play-Modellen hat die Einnahmestrategien verändert, indem er den Folus auf die Spielerbindung anstelle der anfänglichen Verkäufe legt und das Publikum über traditionelle Gamer hinaus erweitert. Verschiedene Faktoren deuten darauf hin, dass die Videospielbranche erheblichen Schwankungen unterworfen ist. Diese reichen von regulatorischen Änderungen wie der Einführung von Steuergutschriften für Videospiele beispielsweise in Kanada oder Frankreich, um Talente zu halten und wettbewerbsfähig zu bleiben, über technologische Fortschritte wie Games as a Service (GaaS), die Einnahmemodelle und Spieldesign verändert haben, bis hin zu Marktverschiebungen mit dem Aufkommen von Cloud-Gaming-Diensten durch große Technologieunternehmen, gefolgt von einer Phase bedeutender Übernahmen. Zu den besonderen Herausforderungen gehören die regulatorische Kontrolle einiger Wirtschaftsmodelle wie Hypercasual Games und Lootboxen sowie staatliche Eingriffe wie die chinesischen Nutzungsbeschränkungen für Videospiele, von denen große Unternehmen wie Tencent und NetEase betroffen sind. Diese Faktoren verdeutlichen die Empfindlichkeit der Branche gegenüber externen Kräften und ihre rasche Entwicklung als Reaktion auf technologische, regulatorische und marktbezogene Veränderungen.

Aggressive Video Games are Not a Risk Factor for Future Aggression in Youth: A Longitudinal Study

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2019
J YOUTH ADOLESCENCE

The issue of whether video games with aggressive or violent content (henceforth aggressive video games) contribute to aggressive behavior in youth remains an issue of significant debate. One issue that has been raised is that some studies may inadvertently inflate effect sizes by use of questionable researcher practices and unstandardized assessments of predictors and outcomes, or lack of proper theory-driven controls. In the current article, a large sample of 3034 youth (72.8% male Mage = 11.2) in Singapore were assessed for links between aggressive game play and seven aggression or prosocial outcomes 2 years later. Theoretically relevant controls for prior aggression, poor impulse control, gender and family involvement were used. Effect sizes were compared to six nonsense outcomes specifically chosen to be theoretically unrelated to aggressive game play. The use of nonsense outcomes allows for a comparison of effect sizes between theoretically relevant and irrelevant outcomes, to help assess whether any statistically significant outcomes may be spurious in large datasets. Preregistration was employed to reduce questionable researcher practices. Results indicate that aggressive video games were unrelated to any of the outcomes using the study criteria for significance. It would take 27 h/day of M-rated game play to produce clinically noticeable changes in aggression. Effect sizes for aggression/prosocial outcomes were little different than for nonsense outcomes. Evidence from this study does not support the conclusion that aggressive video games are a predictor of later aggression or reduced prosocial behavior in youth.

How ‘gangsters’ become jihadists: Bourdieu, criminology and the crime–terrorism nexus

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2019
Eur J Criminol

A background in ‘ordinary’ crime, violence and drug use seems to characterize many European individuals recently involved in ISIS-related jihadi violence. With its long tradition of studying marginalized populations and street culture, criminology offers novel ways to explore these developments theoretically. In this article, we demonstrate how Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of capital, habitus and field allow for a nuanced analysis of how certain individuals move from street to politico-religious criminality. We show that ‘investments’ in street capital can be expended within the field of violent jihadism. We argue that an embodied street habitus supports continuities in attitudes and behaviours within different violent contexts, and furthermore that street social capital facilitates recruitment to violent jihadism. Finally, reflection is offered on resonances between street and jihadi fields. The article explains how continuities in lifestyle can exist between the European city and a Middle Eastern battleground.

Fishermen or Swarm Dynamics? Should we Understand Jihadist Online-Radicalization as a Top-Down or Bottom-Up Process?

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2017

Radicalization: Why Some People Choose the Path of Violence

Book

Jan 2017

Farhad Khosrokhavar

A Musicological Perspective on Jihadi anashid

Chapter

Jun 2017

Jonathan Pieslak

Al-Qaida and Islamic State continue to captivate the world with their extreme violence. While much attention has been given to the operations and doctrines of jihadi groups, this is the first book to explore their culture. Using a wealth of primary sources, the authors examine what goes on inside these organizations and what daily life is like for the foot-soldiers. They show that Islamist militants have a rich aesthetic culture and do much more than fight and train. Life in a jihadi group is in fact filled with poetry and music, and fighters spend time on surprising things like dream interpretation and weeping. Readers will discover an entirely new perspective on radical Islamists: that despite their reputation as macho men, they value humility, artistic sensitivity, and displays of emotion. Cultural practices are essential for understanding the jihadi worldview and may shed important new light on decision-making and recruitment processes in extremist groups. This original book will interest anyone in academia, government, or the general public who is intrigued by the appeal and resilience of the jihadi movement.

Why do terrorists migrate to social media?

Chapter

May 2016

Gabriel Weimann

The limited importance of dehumanization in collective violence

Article

Feb 2020

Johannes Lang

Perpetrators of collective violence allegedly dehumanize their victims. Psychologists often operationalize dehumanization as a social-cognitive process that turns people into beings whose thoughts, feelings, and relationships are of no concern to the perpetrators. The theory is that this process is an essential mechanism in intergroup violence. But a growing number of researchers from a variety of disciplines are pointing out the theoretical and empirical limitations of the dehumanization thesis. Some psychologists go so far as to argue that the thesis is mistaken. As this review shows, the explanatory value of ‘dehumanization’ is now in doubt. Whatever its intuitive appeal, the psychological concept of dehumanization might do more to distort than illuminate the history of collective violence.

“Yes, I can”: what is the role of perceived self-efficacy in violent online-radicalisation processes of “homegrown” terrorists?

Article

Dec 2019

Linda Schlegel

Radicalisation is influenced by a multitude of factors such as situational, social and psychological factors, including social-cognitive processes. This article explores how homegrown extremists are influenced by their perceived agency and how the beliefs of their own abilities to change their situation are directly shaped by the online-propaganda they consume using ISIS propaganda as a case study. The article serves as an exploratory analysis of the potential explanatory qualities of Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy. This preliminary theoretical work explores how online-propaganda seeks to increase perceived personal self-efficacy to inspire action. The findings indicate that an increased focus on agency beliefs may facilitate a more holistic understanding of the psycho-social processes influencing radicalization and factors driving certain individuals to perpetrate violence while others do not. More research needs to be conducted, but this work is a first exploratory step in advancing our understanding of self-efficacy beliefs in the radicalization of homegrown extremists.

Embodying ‘the Nordic race’: imaginaries of Viking heritage in the online communications of the Nordic Resistance Movement

Article

May 2019

Christoffer Kølvraa

Kølvraa’s article focuses on the cultural imaginary of the Scandinavian extreme right by analysing the online presence of the so-called Nordic Resistance Movement. He seeks to show how the cultural imaginaries of this National Socialist organization make use of the Scandinavian Viking heritage in three distinct ways. First, to produce a distinctly Nordic form of National Socialism and thus potentially make this ideology palatable to Nordic publics. Second, to differentiate their racially oriented political project from a wider far-right or populist right concern with the defence of European Christian heritage and/or civilization against Islam. And, third, to thematize and perform a certain hyper-masculine identity, especially in the context of martial and sporting competitions arranged by the organization.

The Effect of Violence and Competition within Video Games on Aggression

Article

May 2019
COMPUT HUM BEHAV

Since the release of video games numerous studies have assessed the impact of violence within video games on aggression, yet few have assessed the impact of competition. Initial studies that include competition indicate that competition within video games does impact aggression, and that it is the competitive nature of violent video games rather than the actual violence that has increased aggression. However, previous competitive video game studies have assumed levels of competition within video games or have used different games across conditions, both of which may have confounded results. As such, this study aimed to assess the impact of both competition and violence on aggression using a true experimental design and using the same game across conditions. Sixty-four participants played one of four versions of a video game (2 [Competitive] x 2 [Violent]) and it was found that competition, but not violence, impacted aggressive affect. In addition, participants who lost in the competitive version of the game had even higher levels of aggressive affect. Neither competition nor violence impacted aggressive behaviour. Possible limitations to this study included the poor validity of the Taylor Competitive Reaction Time Task (TCRTT) and the delay between participants finishing the game and then competing the TCRTT. Overall, these findings further support the notion that competition rather than violence within video games impacts aggression. Future research should assess ways to encourage fair play within video game communities to reduce the impact of competition on aggression.

Jumanji Extremism? How games and gamification could facilitate radicalization processes

Abstract

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