top of page

This section serves as a central hub for sharing and communicating the project's outputs. It offers a concise summary of the project's main contributions. Please visit this page regularly as it will be continuously updated throughout the project. Updates will include significant academic advancements in understanding extremism within the gaming ecosystem, notes on the development of the "Watchtower" AI tool, EPA Training Curricula, and progress on establishing the European Network Against Gaming-related Extremism (ENgaGE).

​

DISCLAIMER: 

Project GEMS is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Horizon Europe's research and innovation programme. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

GEMS Reports

 

  • "Gaming Stakeholders Mapping Report," authored by the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) pursuant to Work Package 6 (WP6).
    Download Link

 

  • "Extremism across the Online Gaming Ecosystem," prepared by Moonshot in accordance with the objectives of Work Package 2 (WP2).
    Download Link

 

  • "Towards a Sociology of Gaming and Radicalisation: A report on the state of the art," prepared by Trinity College Dublin, in fulfilment of the objectives of Work Package 1 (WP1).
    Download Link

GEMS Glossary

This document contains a basic glossary designed for researchers participating in the GEMS project. It includes key terms and concepts relevant to studying extremism within the gaming ecosystem. The glossary provides an initial collection of sources and references, which are not exhaustive and do not represent the final version. The list will be continuously updated throughout the project in collaboration with other researchers.

GEMS Reference Library

Here, GEMS provides an initial library of sources and references that may be useful to researchers studying extremism within the gaming ecosystem. The materials listed are not exhaustive and do not represent the final version. This list will be updated continuously throughout the project in collaboration with other researchers.

Journals and Academic Papers:

  • Baele, S.J., Brace, L., & Coan, T.G. (2021). Variations on a Theme? Comparing 4chan, 8kun, and Other chans’ Far-Right “/pol” Boards. Perspectives on Terrorism, 15(1), 65–80. link
  • Bakioglu, B. (2009). Spectacular Interventions of Second Life: Goon Culture, Griefing, and Disruption in Virtual Spaces. Journal of Virtual Worlds, 1(3), 4–21. link
  • Counter Terrorism Policing (2023, March 9). Young People Arrested on Suspicion of Terrorism Related Offences in UK Continues to Rise. Counter Terrorism Policing. link
  • Crawford, B., Keen, F., & Suarez-Tangil, G. (2020). Memetic Irony and the Promotion of Violence within Chan Cultures. Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats. link
  • Giles, J. (2007). Serious Grief. New Scientist, 195(2619), 52–53. link
  • Hafez, M. (2016). The Ties that Bind: How Terrorists Exploit Family Bonds. CTC Sentinel, (9), 2. link
  • Hodge, E. & Hallgrimsdottir, H. (2019). Networks of Hate: The Alt Right, “Troll Culture,” and the Cultural Geography of Social Movement Spaces Online. Journal of Borderlands Studies, 4, 563–580. link
  • Huey, L. (2015). This is Not Your Mother’s Terrorism: Social Media, Online Radicalization and the Practice of Political Jamming. Journal of Terrorism Research, 6(2). link
  • Koehler, D., Fiebig, V., & Jugl, I. (2022). From Gaming to Hating: Extreme-Right Ideological Indoctrination and Mobilization for Violence of Children on Online Gaming Platforms. Political Psychology, 44(2). link

Books:

  • Beran, D. (2019). It Came From Something Awful. Macmillan. link
  • Berger, J.M. (2018). Extremism. MIT Press. link
  • Condis, M. (2020). Hateful Games – Why White Supremacist Recruiters Target Gamers. In J. Reyman & E.M. Sparby, Digital Ethics – Rhetoric and Responsibility in Online Aggression. link
  • Kowert, R. (2015). Video Games and Social Competence. Routledge. link
  • Littler, M. & Lee, B. (Eds.) (2021). Digital Extremisms: Readings in violence, radicalisation and extremism in the online space. Palgrave Macmillan. link
  • Nagle, A. (2017). Kill All Normies: Online culture wars from 4chan and tumblr to Trump and the AltRight. Zero Books. link
  • Schlegel, L. & Kowert, R. (Eds.). (2024) Gaming and extremism: the radicalization of digital playgrounds. Routledge. link
  • Singer, P., and Brooking, E. (2018). LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. link

News Articles and Online Publications:

  • Alexander, J. (2018). Discord is purging alt-right, white nationalist and hateful servers. Polygon, February 28. link
  • Allyn, B. (2021). Group-Chat App Discord Says It Banned More Than 2,000 Extremist Communities. NPR, April 5. link
  • Andrews, F., and Pym, A. (2021). The Websites Sustaining Britain’s Far-Right Influencers. BellingCat, February 24. link
  • Andrews, S. & Skoczylis, J. (2022, February 17). Understanding Attitudes to Extremism in Gaming Communities. GNET. link
  • Bartlett, J. (2014, November 4). Why Terrorists and Far Right Extremists Will Always Be Early Adopters. Daily Telegraph. link
  • Bayoumy, Y. & Gilsinan, K. (2019, August 6) A Reformed White Nationalist Says the Worst Is Yet to Come. The Atlantic. link
  • BBC (2019). Germany shooting: 2,200 people watched on Twitch. BBC, October 10. link
  • Bergengruen, V. (2020). How Far-Right Personalities and Conspiracy Theorists Are Cashing in on the Pandemic Online. Time, August 20. link
  • Bindner, L. & Gluck, R. (2022, July 1). The Buffalo Attack – Insights From the Suspected Terrorist’s Diary. GNET. link
  • Brandom, R. (2021, August 17). Roblox is struggling to moderate re-creations of mass shootings. The Verge. link
  • Brewster, T. (2020). Revealed: FBI Raided Discord Chats Of ‘Unite The Right’ Leader. Forbes, January 8. link
  • Browning, K. (2021). Extremists find a financial lifeline on Twitch. The Denver Post, May 8. link
  • Browning, K. & Thompson, S. (2023, April 11). An Online Meme Group Is at the Center of Uproar Over Leaked Military Secrets. New York Times. link
  • Clayton, N. (2021). Discord deleted thousands of 'violent extremist' servers last year. PC Gamer, April 7. link
  • Cohen, L. (2021). White nationalists are moving from YouTube to DLive. Daily Dot, May 19. link
  • D’Anastasio, C. (2021). A Game Livestreaming Site Has Become an Extremist Haven. Wired, July 1. link
  • Day, K. (2015). Why terrorists love PlayStation 4. Politico, November 15. link
  • Dibbell, J. (2008, January 18). Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers, the Sociopaths of the Virtual World. Wired. link
  • DLive (2019). DLive Daily Active Users Grow Six-Fold in New Report. GlobeNewsWire, July 17, 2019. link
  • Farokhmanesh, M. (2018). White supremacists who used Discord to plan Charlottesville rally may soon lose their anonymity. The Verge, August 7, 2018. link
  • Gais, H., and Hayden, M. (2020). Extremists Are Cashing in on a Youth-Targeted Gaming Website. SPLC. link
  • Gonzalez, O. (2019). 8chan, 8kun, 4chan, Endchan: What you need to know. CNet, November 7, 2019. link
  • Gonzalez, O. (2021). QAnon believers and anti-maskers build new audiences at Twitch, report says. CNet, April 27. link
  • Grayson, N. (2021). Twitch Isn't Overwhelmed With Far-Right Extremists, But It Does Have A Big Misinformation Problem. Kotaku, May 5, 2021. link
  • Harbinger, J. (2020, February 27). Christian Picciolini | Breaking Hate Part Two (No. 318) [Audio podcast episode]. link
  • Hern, A. & Milmo, D. (2022, May 16). Online Hate Under Scrutiny After Buffalo Shooter Streamed Massacre on Twitch. The Guardian. link
  • Herrman, J. (2014). Internet Terror Cell Neutralized. The Awl. link
  • Howes, S. & Bennett, S. (2022, February 19). Revealed: The “Nazi Gas Chambers” in a Metaverse Game Played by Children as Young as Seven Around the World. Daily Mail. link
  • Kaplan, A. (2021). DLive may have cracked down on some extremists following the Capitol attack, but QAnon supporters remain on the platform. Media Matters, January 19, 2021. link
  • Keierleber, M. (2021). How white supremacists recruit teen culture warriors in gaming communities. Fast Company, February 1, 2021. link
  • Kelley, B. (2017). Fashwave, the Electronic Music of the Alt-Right, Is Just More Hateful Subterfuge. Southern Poverty Law Center. link
  • Kelly, M. (2021). DLive is under congressional scrutiny over Capitol attack. The Verge, February 9, 2021. link
  • Levy, A. (2021, March 9). How Indie Game Makers Turned Roblox into a $30 Billion Company. CNBC. link
  • Miller, C. & Silva, S. (2021, September 23). Extremists Using Video-Game Chats to Spread Hate. BBC. link
  • Orland, K. (2015, November 8). Columbine Massacre RPG Creator Banned from College Campus, Film Festival [Updated]. Ars Technica. link
  • Patterson, D. (2019). 8chan users are moving to Discord, where your kids are playing video games. CBS News, August 26, 2019. link
  • Plaum, A. (2020). Fighting the infodemic, one game at a time. DW Innovation, September 3, 2020. link
  • Reuters (2015). Teenager in Austrian 'Playstation' terrorism case gets two years. Reuters, May 26, 2015. link
  • Tassi, P. (2015). How ISIS Terrorists May Have Used PlayStation 4 To Discuss And Plan Attacks [Updated]. Forbes, November 14, 2015. link
  • Wong, J.C. (2019, October 10). Germany Shooting Suspect Livestreamed Attempted Attack on Synagogue. The Guardian. link

Reports and Briefings:

  • ADL (2019). Free to Play? Hate, Harassment and Positive Social Experiences in Online Games. link
  • ADL (April 29, 2020). This Is Not a Game: How Steam Harbors Extremists. link
  • ADL (n.d.) Disruption and Harms in Online Gaming Framework. link
  • Amarasingam, A., Argentino, M.A., & Macklin, G. (July 2022). The Buffalo Attack: The Cumulative Momentum of Far-Right Terror. CTC Sentinel, 15(7). link
  • American Psychological Association (2020). APA Resolution on Violent Video Games. link
  • Bale, J., Hynes, N., & Reidy, T. (2019). Assessing the Risk of Islamist Terrorists Using Human Vectors to Deploy Pathogens. link
  • Brace, L. (2021). The Role of the Chans in the Far-Right Online Ecosystem. GNET Insight. link
  • Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism (CTEC) (2022, May 31). Dangerous Organizations and Bad Actors: The Patriot Front. link
  • Counter Extremism Project (2019). Extremist Content Online: Twitch Streamed German Synagogue Shooting Proliferating on Telegram. link
  • Crawford, B. (2019). Chan Culture and Violent Extremism. GNET Insight. link
  • Davey, J. & Ebner, E. (2017, October). The Fringe Insurgency – Connectivity, Convergence and Mainstreaming of the Extreme Right. Institute for Strategic Dialogue. link
  • Davey, J., Comerford, M., Guhl, J., Baldet, W., & Colliver, C. (January 2022). A Taxonomy for the Classification of Post-Organizational Violent Extremist & Extremism on Gaming Platforms. Institute for Strategic Dialogue. link
  • DeCook, J. (2021). The Issue Isn’t Incels. It’s Racist Misogyny. GNET Insight. link
  • Der Spiegel (2019). The Growing Threat of Online-Bred Right-Wing Extremism. Der Spiegel, March 28. link
  • EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator (2020). 9066/20 Online gaming in the context of the fight against terrorism. link
  • Europol (2021). European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report. link
  • Fielitz, M. & Ahmed, R. (2021, March). It’s Not Funny Anymore. Far-Right Extremists’ Use of Humour. Radicalisation Awareness Network. link
  • Forchtner, B., and Tominc, A. (2017). Kalashnikov and Cooking-spoon: Neo-Nazism, Veganism and a Lifestyle Cooking Show on YouTube. Food, Culture & Society, 20, no.3: 415-441. link
  • Gallagher, A., O′Connor, C., Vaux, P., & Davey, J. (2021, August). Gaming and Extremism: The Extreme Right on Discord. Institute for Strategic Dialogue. link
  • Guhl, J. & Davey, J. (2022, June). A Safe Space to Hate: White Supremacist Mobilization on Telegram. Institute for Strategic Dialogue. link
  • Hayden, M.E. (2021, January 7). Meet DLive: The Livestreaming Platform Used by Trump’s Capitol Insurrectionists. SPLC. link
  • Heslep, D.G. & Berge, P. (2021). Mapping Discord’s Darkside: Distributed Hate Networks on Disboard. New Media & Society. link
  • Holmer, G., Bauman, P., & Aryaeinejad, K. (2018). Measuring Up: Evaluating the Impact of P/CVE Programs. United States Institute of Peace. link
  • Keen, F., Crawford, B., and Suarez-Tangil, G. (2020). Memetic Irony And The Promotion Of Violence Within Chan Cultures. link
  • Lakhani, S. (2021). Video Gaming and (Violent) Extremism: An Exploration of the Current Landscape, Trends and Threats. European Commission. link
  • Lewis, J., and Marsden, S. (2021). Countering Violent Extremism Interventions: Contemporary Research. link
  • Morgensen, C., and Helding Rand, S. (2019). Angry Young Men: A Look Inside Extreme Online Communities. link
  • Munn, L. (2019, June 1). Alt-Right Pipeline: Individual Journeys to Extremism Online. link
  • Pandith, F. & Ware, J. (2021, March 22). Teen Terrorism Inspired by Social Media Is on the Rise. Here’s What We Need to Do. NBC News. link
  • Peckford, A. (2020). Right Wing Extremism in a Video Game Community? A qualitative content analysis exploring the discourse of the Reddit GamerGate community r/KotakuInAction. Simon Fraser University Press. link
  • Phelan, A., White, J., Wallner, C., & Paterson, J. (2023). Introductory Guide to Understanding Misogyny and the Far-Right. Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats. link
  • Radicalisation Awareness Network (2021). Digital Grooming Tactics on Video Gaming and Video Gaming Adjacent Platforms: Threats and Opportunities. link
  • Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) (2020). Extremists’ Use of Video Gaming – Strategies and Narratives. link
  • Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) (2020). The Role of Hotbeds of Radicalisation. link
  • Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) (2021). Digital Terrorist and ‘Lone Actors’. link
  • Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) (2021). It’s not funny anymore. Far-right extremists’ use of humour. link
  • Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) (2021). Spotlight: Digital Challenges. link
  • Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) (2021). The gamification of violent extremism & lessons for P/CVE. link
  • Robinson, N. & Whittaker, J. (2021). Playing for Hate? Extremism, Terrorism and Videogames. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. link
  • Schlegel, L. (2020). Can You Hear Your Call of Duty? The Gamification of Radicalization and Extremist Violence. European Eye on Radicalization, March 17, 2020. link
  • Schlegel, L. (2020). Jumanji extremism? How games and gamification could facilitate radicalization processes. Journal for Deradicalization, no. 23. link
  • Schlegel, L. (2020). No Child’s Play: The Identitarian Movement’s ‘Patriotic’ Video Game. GNET Insight. link
  • Schlegel, L. & Amarasingam, A. (2022, October 5). Examining the Intersection Between Gaming and Extremism. United Nations Office of Counter-terrorism. link
  • Tielemans, A. (2021). A Survey of Violent Extremist and Terrorist Activities Across the Gaming Environment. GNET Insight. link
  • UNOCD (2021). Preventing violent extremism through sport: A practical guide. link
  • Vaux, P., Gallagher, A., & Davey, J. (2021, August). Gaming and Extremism: The Extreme Right on Steam. Institute for Strategic Dialogue. link
  • Won, Y., and Lewis, J. (2021). Male Supremacism, Borderline Content, and Gaps in Existing Moderation Efforts. GNET Insight. link
  • Xiang, T. K. (2021). Bridging the Gap Between Counterterrorism Research and Practice Through Game-Based Learning. GNET Insight. link

Other:

  • Aschim, J. (2020). Playing Hitler: The Representation of Nazism in Hearts of Iron IV [Master’s thesis], Inland Norway University. link

bottom of page