The gaming industry has long grappled with players' propensity to extremism and outright harassment directed at other gamers, but a new study appears to have quantified just how big of a problem it really is. While the notion that extremists may be using video games to disseminate radical ideologies to impressionable users isn’t new, up until now there’s been a dearth of serious scientific studies that could describe its effects.
This problem isn’t limited to any particular gaming platform, either. ThoughPC gamingspecifically may have been ground zero for such problematic behavior in the past, the last two decades' expansion of online connectivity and communication tools means that no gaming platform is immune to the issue of harassment and extremism, and its true extent may be frightening.
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According to the latest study conducted by the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, the “[gaming] industry’s reckoning with extremism is long overdue.” While specific examples of harassment pop up every so often, as was the case withxQc recently exposing a toxic viewerwho donated money just to send mean chat messages, NYU Stern has now revealed that a grand total of 51% of gamers have come in contact with excessively toxic and/or extremist ideologies while playing. Worse yet, 36% of the study’s 1,128 respondents have experienced targeted harassment within the last year, which paints a particularly stark picture of the current state of things.
As unlikely as it may be that the gaming industry’s “reckoning with extremism,” as the study puts it, will come anytime soon, the fact that governing bodies are finally recognizing the problem for what it is could be a huge boon. Late in 2022, members ofUS Congress queried game devs about extremism, signalling an uptick in interest in properly managing the toxicity that can spread like wildfire through gaming communities.
Some gaming companies are taking things into their own hands, too.Ubisoft and Riot are working on anti-harassment toolsin a joint effort to curb extremism and toxicity, and it’s all but certain that other developers and publishers are looking into similar projects, where applicable. The idea that over half of all gamers may experience harassment on a regular basis is a multifaceted issue that cannot easily be solved, but simply attempting to do something serious about it would be a positive move for gaming communities worldwide.
Aside from governing bodies and gaming companies themselves, it’s a good sign that many gamers themselves recognize the toxicity for what it is and look for ways to combat it. A recent example came whenOverwatch 2players asked for more chat filtersto help deal with excessive bouts of harassment from toxic individuals, which shouldn’t be too problematic of a feature to implement.
Source:NYU Stern - Center for Business and Human Rights
