“Much of the government’s concern about the risk for radicalization through video games relates to what are called gaming-adjacent platforms, such as the messaging app Discord, the streaming platform Twitch and the digital distribution service Steam.”
There’s a persistent myth about video games — that they’re harmful and cause violent behaviour.
That’s wrong, says Sarah Stang.
“Game content does not cause real-world violence,” says Stang, an assistant professor of game studies at Brock University.
“We have so many studies that have that no matter how many violent video games you play, that does not mean you’re going to be a violent person.”
But toxicity and harassment persist in what Stang calls the “world’s biggest entertainment medium” which, by some estimates, brings in four times the global box office revenue of the film industry.
The problem made news a decade ago in Gamergate — an online furor in which women and companies were targeted for supporting progressive ideals, like having more women represented in gaming’s traditionally male-dominated world.
Women reported threats of rape and death. Some were doxxed — having one’s identifying information, including home address, published with malicious intent.
There’s a continuum of toxicity in online communities, says MiaConsalvo of Concordia University in Montreal, the Canada Research Chair in digital games studies and design.
“It can be from the more banal and harmless, the trash talking, all the way up to threats of violence,” she says.
The internet is where a large number of people go to hang out. “Games are a huge part of that ecosystem,” says Consalvo.
Government attention
Online toxicity is something society is worried about but not necessarily governments, Consalvo says.
It’s only when there are concerns about democracy or threats against people or government institutions that things become more serious, she says.
The Canadian government announced funding in March to study the “potential for radicalization to violence across gaming platforms.” More than $317,000 is to go to the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, a think tank based in the United Kingdom.
The Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence, which falls under the federal Public Safety Department, provided the funding.
Brett Kubicek, research manager with the centre, says it was created in 2017 to lead Ottawa’s efforts on preventing and countering violent extremism.
Much of the government’s concern about the risk for radicalization through video games relates to what are called gaming-adjacent platforms, such as the messaging app Discord, the streaming platform Twitch and the digital distribution service Steam.
“A lot of this is about just going where people are,” Kubicek says.
Canada can’t do it alone, adds the centre’s executive director, Robert Burley.
“We need to collaborate with other governments,” he says, pointing to a summit held after the 2019 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, as an example.
