NSDAP, short for the German Nazi Party, was the name of a chat room in discord, a popular messaging platform among gamers. The space had a stated goal: “Riding the country of all Jews and fags.” Those who joined received conscript status, and to rise in status within an established internal hierarchy, members had to swear allegiance to Hitler. Video games were hardly ever discussed. Some of the members were minors.
The case is outlined in a study published this week by the Stern Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University. It’s just one illustrative example of how misogyny, racism, and other extreme ideologies pervade video game chat rooms.
Researchers at the center conducted a survey of 1,128 gamers. Participants resided in five of the world’s largest gaming markets: the United States, Great Britain, South Korea, France and Germany.
He 51% of gamers reported that they encountered extremist statements in multi-person games in the past year. Of the total, 36% said they directly experienced some form of extreme bullying while playing.
Hidden extremists in gamer rooms
Gaming platforms and related chat rooms are vulnerable to the reach of extremist groups for two big reasons: the large number of young people participating and the relative lack of moderation, the report says. “Protected by the veil of anonymity, extremists feel emboldened to openly discuss radical beliefs,” the study notes.
Some of these extremist actors are able to speak directly to other gamers through voice features. Call of Duty, Minecraft and Roblox are some of the most popular with this option. Other times they resort to messaging platforms like Discord.
Between 15% and 20% of respondents under the age of 18 said they had seen statements supporting the idea that “the white race is superior to other races.” They also faced messages that defended the idea that “a particular race or ethnicity should be expelled or eliminated” or that “women are inferior”.
“Unloved” is a misogynistic forum on Discord, in which about 150 people participate. It has several rules, one of them is “Don’t respect women.” They share memes and also joke about school shootings and discuss the attractiveness of women. The New York Times. Group users can enter smaller rooms for voice or text chats. The name of one of the rooms refers to the rape.
The trivialization of violence
The study explains that the violent plots of some video games naturalize some expressions of violence and extremism among gamers. An expression like “I’ll kill you,” the report says, can have a benign meaning if it refers to killing a rival character in a game. However, he adds that “extremists can capitalize on this ambiguity by further pushing the limits of acceptable rhetoric”.
Steph Loehr, a transgender activist and streamer on Twitch, has repeatedly reported death threats. He too has been a victim of doxing: The act of intentionally and publicly disclosing personal information. “If your joke is well crafted, you can get people on your side and say the victim is overreacting,” Loehr explains.
Many times, however, the replicators of this hate speech have no qualms about being blatantly literal. The report cites another example in Roblox, a game that allows players to create virtual worlds. Players recreated on this platform Nazi concentration camps and massive re-education camps that the Chinese communist government built in Xinjiang, a majority Muslim region.
Video game companies say they are cracking down on hateful and extremist content in gamer spaces. In recent years, for example, Activision has banned 500 thousand accounts in call of duty for violating their code of conduct. But the universe of action is immense.
Only Discord has 19 million chat rooms, with 150 million monthly active users worldwide. It is estimated that there are more than 3,000 million video game users worldwide. The task of monitoring everything that happens seems like an impossible mission.
