HARASSMENT OF 10-17 YEAR-OLDS, BY VIDEO GAME
VALORANT (80%)
DOTA2 (71%)
FORTNITE (66%)
DESTINY 2 (65%)
PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS (65%0
WORLD OF WARCRAFT (64%)
CALL OF DUTY (63%)
FINAL FANTASY XIV (61%)
GRAND THEFT AUTO (60%)
Executive Summary
In 2021, ADL found that nearly one in ten gamers between ages 13 and 17 had been exposed to white-supremacist ideology and themes in online multiplayer games. An estimated 2.3 million teens were exposed to white-supremacist ideology in multiplayer games like Roblox, World of Warcraft, Fortnite, Apex Legends, League of Legends, Madden NFL, Overwatch, and Call of Duty.
Hate and extremism in online games have worsened since last year.
ADL’s annual report on experiences in online multiplayer games shows that the spread of hate, harassment, and extremism in these digital spaces continues to grow unchecked. Our survey explores the social interactions, experiences, attitudes, and behaviors of online multiplayer gamers ages 10 and above nationwide.
For the fourth consecutive year, the already-high rates of harassment experienced by a nationally representative sample of nearly 100 million American adult gamers increased. According to the Entertainment Software Association, 76% of gamers in the United States are over 18.
Harassment experienced by teens ages 13-17 increased from last year. For the first time, ADL has collected data on harassment experienced by pre-teens ages 10-12.
The games industry’s progress is slow even when compared to that of social media companies, which are hardly exemplars of user safety or accountability. Only one major games company, Roblox Corporation, has an explicit, public-facing policy against extremism. Earlier this year, Wildlife Studios, a mobile-games company headquartered in Brazil, produced the first gaming transparency report that shares data on how a company acted against hate and harassment in its online games, followed by Xbox in November 2022. Transparency reports and policies banning the expression of extremist ideologies are the bare minimum required to fight hate in online games.
The immense popularity of online games means it is likely that you or someone close to you has experienced hate and harassment. More than two out of three Americans—over 215 million people of all ages—play video games, including both online and offline games. The video games industry is a $203 billion market, with the North American video game market generating over $54 billion in 2022.
In focusing on online multiplayer games, this report offers concrete guidance for the government, civil society, and industry to take meaningful steps in making those games safer for all users, regardless of their age or identity.
Introduction
On May 14, 2022, a white supremacist extremist committed a mass murder at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 Black shoppers and injuring three others. In the logs of his messages on the social platform Discord, the shooter wrote that a game on Roblox was a key vector in his radicalization.
Excerpt from archived version of the Buffalo shooter’s Discord logs referenced by NBC News journalist Benjamin Goggin.
Our 2022 survey finds that adult exposure to white supremacy in online games has more than doubled to 20% of gamers, up from 8% in 2021. Among young gamers ages 10-17, 15% have been exposed to white supremacist ideologies and themes in online games. Our results and other research suggest that the inability of the games industry to build safe, respectful spaces for their users has made communities within online game platforms so rife with hate that they rival the worst places on the internet, such as the notorious forum 4chan.
Although the connection between video games and violence has been repeatedly disproven, there is a growing body of research examining the connection between the industry’s negligence in moderating hate within online games and the normalization of extremist ideologies. In October 2021, the Extremism and Gaming Research Network was launched, bringing together various efforts to study radicalization and online games, as a result of increased interest in this arena.
Unfortunately, there is plenty of grist for this research.
The government of New Zealand released a report on the anti-Muslim attack in Christchurch that clearly showed how the shooter’s path to radicalization started in online multiplayer games, where he was able to “openly express racist and far right views” without pushback from the community or the platform. Researchers used anonymized German police case files to investigate the influence of online gaming spaces such as Roblox and gaming-adjacent social platforms like Discord in radicalizing two children under 14. One of the children was drawn to World War II recreations on Roblox, where he befriended someone who eventually invited him to join a far-right Discord server with users who wanted to “liberate the country of all Jews and fags.” The study echoed Wired’s reporting on extremist activity in Roblox, which found the platform was a fertile environment for fascism, hosting recreations of mass murders and games with slavery.
The games industry cannot claim ignorance of disturbing findings related to extremism and online gaming. At the Game Developers Conference (GDC), a major industry event, two researchers, Dr. Rachel Kowert and Alex Newhouse, discussed worrying signs of extremist normalization in the popular game Call of Duty (COD), including the appearance of “RAHOWA,” an acronym for "Racial Holy War” that is used as a rallying cry for white supremacists in usernames on COD’s leaderboards. The researchers also talked about interconnected, openly extremist networks of users on Roblox and Steam, an online games store and forum. They showed the presence of far-right individuals on gaming platforms, including members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front on Roblox and a former leader of the neo-Nazi group Feuerkrieg Division on Steam.
CONTINUED:
Hate Is No Game: Hate and Harassment in Online Games 2022 | ADL
VALORANT (80%)
DOTA2 (71%)
FORTNITE (66%)
DESTINY 2 (65%)
PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS (65%0
WORLD OF WARCRAFT (64%)
CALL OF DUTY (63%)
FINAL FANTASY XIV (61%)
GRAND THEFT AUTO (60%)
Executive Summary
In 2021, ADL found that nearly one in ten gamers between ages 13 and 17 had been exposed to white-supremacist ideology and themes in online multiplayer games. An estimated 2.3 million teens were exposed to white-supremacist ideology in multiplayer games like Roblox, World of Warcraft, Fortnite, Apex Legends, League of Legends, Madden NFL, Overwatch, and Call of Duty.
Hate and extremism in online games have worsened since last year.
ADL’s annual report on experiences in online multiplayer games shows that the spread of hate, harassment, and extremism in these digital spaces continues to grow unchecked. Our survey explores the social interactions, experiences, attitudes, and behaviors of online multiplayer gamers ages 10 and above nationwide.
For the fourth consecutive year, the already-high rates of harassment experienced by a nationally representative sample of nearly 100 million American adult gamers increased. According to the Entertainment Software Association, 76% of gamers in the United States are over 18.
Harassment experienced by teens ages 13-17 increased from last year. For the first time, ADL has collected data on harassment experienced by pre-teens ages 10-12.
The games industry’s progress is slow even when compared to that of social media companies, which are hardly exemplars of user safety or accountability. Only one major games company, Roblox Corporation, has an explicit, public-facing policy against extremism. Earlier this year, Wildlife Studios, a mobile-games company headquartered in Brazil, produced the first gaming transparency report that shares data on how a company acted against hate and harassment in its online games, followed by Xbox in November 2022. Transparency reports and policies banning the expression of extremist ideologies are the bare minimum required to fight hate in online games.
The immense popularity of online games means it is likely that you or someone close to you has experienced hate and harassment. More than two out of three Americans—over 215 million people of all ages—play video games, including both online and offline games. The video games industry is a $203 billion market, with the North American video game market generating over $54 billion in 2022.
In focusing on online multiplayer games, this report offers concrete guidance for the government, civil society, and industry to take meaningful steps in making those games safer for all users, regardless of their age or identity.
Introduction
On May 14, 2022, a white supremacist extremist committed a mass murder at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 Black shoppers and injuring three others. In the logs of his messages on the social platform Discord, the shooter wrote that a game on Roblox was a key vector in his radicalization.
Excerpt from archived version of the Buffalo shooter’s Discord logs referenced by NBC News journalist Benjamin Goggin.
Our 2022 survey finds that adult exposure to white supremacy in online games has more than doubled to 20% of gamers, up from 8% in 2021. Among young gamers ages 10-17, 15% have been exposed to white supremacist ideologies and themes in online games. Our results and other research suggest that the inability of the games industry to build safe, respectful spaces for their users has made communities within online game platforms so rife with hate that they rival the worst places on the internet, such as the notorious forum 4chan.
Although the connection between video games and violence has been repeatedly disproven, there is a growing body of research examining the connection between the industry’s negligence in moderating hate within online games and the normalization of extremist ideologies. In October 2021, the Extremism and Gaming Research Network was launched, bringing together various efforts to study radicalization and online games, as a result of increased interest in this arena.
Unfortunately, there is plenty of grist for this research.
The government of New Zealand released a report on the anti-Muslim attack in Christchurch that clearly showed how the shooter’s path to radicalization started in online multiplayer games, where he was able to “openly express racist and far right views” without pushback from the community or the platform. Researchers used anonymized German police case files to investigate the influence of online gaming spaces such as Roblox and gaming-adjacent social platforms like Discord in radicalizing two children under 14. One of the children was drawn to World War II recreations on Roblox, where he befriended someone who eventually invited him to join a far-right Discord server with users who wanted to “liberate the country of all Jews and fags.” The study echoed Wired’s reporting on extremist activity in Roblox, which found the platform was a fertile environment for fascism, hosting recreations of mass murders and games with slavery.
The games industry cannot claim ignorance of disturbing findings related to extremism and online gaming. At the Game Developers Conference (GDC), a major industry event, two researchers, Dr. Rachel Kowert and Alex Newhouse, discussed worrying signs of extremist normalization in the popular game Call of Duty (COD), including the appearance of “RAHOWA,” an acronym for "Racial Holy War” that is used as a rallying cry for white supremacists in usernames on COD’s leaderboards. The researchers also talked about interconnected, openly extremist networks of users on Roblox and Steam, an online games store and forum. They showed the presence of far-right individuals on gaming platforms, including members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front on Roblox and a former leader of the neo-Nazi group Feuerkrieg Division on Steam.
CONTINUED:
Hate Is No Game: Hate and Harassment in Online Games 2022 | ADL
