The federal government has issued a grant for $699,763 to investigate radicalization in gaming communities. Several investigative entities from terrorism researchers to nonprofits are to tackle the issue of spreadingextremism in video games and video game communities. The funding comes from the Department of Homeland Security and is a part of the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program. TVTP Grant Program awards around $20 million to local and state authorities as well as nonprofits and institutions of higher education to establish or enhance capabilities to prevent targeted violence and terrorism.
The funding goes to Middlebury’s Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, a research center based in Middlebury College in Vermont; nonprofit Take This, which supports gaming communities and the game industry; and Logically, a company that uses artificial intelligence and experts to reduce harmful and manipulative content online. While manyvideo game communities are amazing, the grant aims to ensure all of them become better by raising societal awareness, increasing media literacy and critical thinking, as well as improving civic engagement.
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Whenever video game communities are targeted by extremist or even terroristic ideas, they affect some of the more vulnerable people in these communities. People are known toexperience anger towards video gameswhich likely makes them more prone to extremist influences. Adolescents and young adults are creating meaningful relationships online, and a bad actor can take advantage of this dynamic. According to the DHS brief, the communities have been targets of even terrorist mobilization and training. While gamers are often the targets of extremists, game developers do not get a pass either. The DHS brief says that developers have failed to tackle the issues in the very communities they foster. The DHS believes the lack of awareness in countering radicalization has resulted in less safety.
Middlebury CTEC, Take This, and Logically are going to develop a framework that will help developers and communities to understand the phenomenon, and ultimately take preventative action. The researchers will provide centralized resources and best practices, and issuetraining for community managers, game designers, and safety professionals in workshops on how to monitor, detect, and prevent extremists from abusing the communities.
The intersection of video games and activity that promotes extremism or spreads propaganda isn’t being researched enough, and people that are intimately familiar with communities and forums realize that dangerous ideas spread through these channels. While gaming communities are often online-bound,extremist ideas and ideologies spread from games to the real world. The initiative is an important step towards securing some of the most vulnerable people from extremist training and propaganda.
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