Far-Right Extremism and Gaming: How Hate Hijacks Play

By Noah Kuttymartin

SYNOPSIS

Far-right extremists are increasingly exploiting online gaming spaces and platforms to spread hate, coordinate violence, and radicalise youth. These digital environments offer anonymity, community, and ideological flexibility, making them powerful tools for extremist actors.

COMMENTARY

Online gaming spaces, from multiplayer games to chat platforms like Discord, have become fertile ground for extremist ideologies since the mid-2010s, particularly with the growth of social gaming. These communities often attract young, mostly male users, making them the key demographic under threat of radicalisation. What was once dismissed as harmless trolling in the early 2010s has, over the past decade, evolved into a pathway for radicalisation which, in some cases, leads to violence.

Extremists have not only gamified hate, embedding it in the language, aesthetics, and culture of gaming, but have also operationalised it by using gaming platforms as tools for recruitment, planning, and psychological conditioning. Anders Breivik, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway terrorist attacks, claimed he used Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as a “training simulator” and played World of Warcraft for social isolation.

While Breivik framed these games as instrumental in preparing for violence, scholars argue that these claims are overstated and reflect Breivik’s ideological narrative rather than evidence of actual tactical benefit. Participants in the 2017 Charlottesville rally used Discord to plan their violent actions. The 2019 Christchurch attacker, Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people in mosques, referenced games like Spyro the Dragon and Fortnite in his manifesto, signalling how deeply gaming culture had affected his mindset.