Disclaimer: This article discusses Gamergate, Chan Culture, and the relationship between video games, pornography, and violence.
The conversations had surrounding video games, particularly in leftist circles, can be incredibly frustrating. A great deal of finger-pointing occurs, with wild declarations of someone’s moral character based on the sort of content they enjoy. While there is a discussion to be had around gaming culture as a whole, much of the conversation seems to miss the point entirely, favoring pseudo-intellectual discussions about what a person enjoys in a fictional setting has to say about their real life moral standards.
There is undeniably a toxic culture around gaming that we absolutely should not be ignoring. Movements like “#Gamergate” and ironic “Chan Culture” have seeped into the gaming world (and the wider subconscious) so deeply that it’s nearly impossible to pry away from the games themselves. The alleged and confirmed sexual harassment lawsuits against major players in the gaming industry (such as Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft) are not things to be taken lightly, by any means.
But a problem often arises when this topic is brought up: there’s a conflation with objectionable content presented in games (examples include up-skirts, copious cleavage, explicit sexual assault, and a large portion of the content that features in Japanese-made games in certain circles) with the actions of radicalized so-called “gamers” and their supporters. While the discussion around both Gamergate and Chan Culture is an important one to have, many users attempting to participate in this discussion pull the harmful actions of these groups away from their extremist roots and re-focus the conversation to something easier to stomach: an inherent “immorality” within people who like certain kinds of games, books, or movies.
Much of the conversation today takes place on X (formerly Twitter) by young, wannabe activists conflating morality with their own personal disgust for certain topics. Their reactionary behavior is similar to both The Satanic Panic of the 80s and the growing “Gender Critical” movement, which touts itself under the false guise of feminism. This movement is defined by the denial of transgender people’s right to exist, their fascist and postfascist allegiances and politics, and their anti-kink extremism. The latter most of which has largely impacted both fandom and artistic spaces, pushing queer and marginalized creators out of their communities and out of work with great success through the weaponization of young teens and adults, of whom have likely had little to no interaction with the wider queer community.
These users frequently site rape and CNC, ABDL, lolicon, and similarly-taboo fetishes. However, in these instances, we have well documented evidence that suggests the consumption of this media in fictional form, or between consenting adults, does not correlate to an increase in sexual violence.
The question, then, is why are a large portion of "gamers" susceptible to highly-radicalized extremist groups? If the answer is not "Because they are degenerates," then what is it? This point often seems to go unexplored in online discourse, particularly in non-academic circles. There's no surprise to that; it's a tough question, to say the least.
Innuendo Studios, a YouTube channel with a focus on dissecting the alt-right, has a particularly compelling video on the phenomenon of radicalization. The video, titled The Alt-Right Playbook: How to Radicalize a Normie is one of a wider series discussing how extremist groups like the alt-right get their hooks into otherwise "normal," everyday people. It's a concerted effort in which the alt-right may use leftist rhetoric and language to further muddy the waters, preying on already vulnerably communities (particularly disenfranchised white cis men), who are otherwise looking for an excuse or reason to "regain" a sense of entitlement that was likely promised to them from an early age. These groups demonize progressive language (while appropriating it to further their own ends) to form a wedge between the "in" and "out" groups, of which the "out" groups will often criticize or discuss problematic trends within the industry.
Of course, the average person does not want to be demonized for the kind of media they consume; and to be clear, they shouldn't be. If a person enjoys playing Grand Theft Auto to unwind after work, they should not be accused of "promoting violence" in any way. The number of people who mimic what they see in fiction to this extent is low, and often reliant on already severely unwell individuals or problematic circumstances (such as a child with known behavioral issues having access to an improperly stored firearm). The argument that games like Grand Theft Auto causes or promotes real-life violence has been hotly debated, with the original study suggesting a correlation having been criticized for a myriad of reasons. Notably, it failed to document the home lives and psychological profiles of the individuals in the study, an important factor when discussing poor separation between fantasy and reality.
A common argument against "gamers" and video games in general is related to the sexism inherent to the industry. We see this in many forms, from hypersexualized women portrayed in games to wildly raunchy visual novels and hentai games, of which are often far more explicit than western works. However, sexism is not a result of the gaming industry, but a product of a sexist society. Games portray strippers, sexy teenagers, bombshell blondes, and sexy action women at about the same rate everything else does, from movies to books to television. Hypersexuality is not unique to the gaming industry, but as a highly visual and interactive medium, it often gets more attention than the actually worrying trend of sexualizing real young girls. After all, America currently hosts the most child sexual abuse material in the world. And with generative AI being used to create deepfakes of minors, as well as being trained on CSAM, that problem is only going to get worse. All of this regards real children, not fictional characters.
It's much more simple to point fingers at video games or other fictional media. Suggesting the problem is in the work, instead of the work being a product of the problem, comfortably sidesteps the unsettling reality. It becomes incredibly convenient to forget that art imitates life, not the other way around.
Does that mean art (and yes, video games are an art form) must be censored? We know that censorship primarily effects marginalized communities, and can often prevent survivors from telling their stories or exploring their trauma in healthy ways. Censorship, then, doesn't appear to be the right answer.
Does that mean the media we consume has no effect on us whatsoever? Generally, no. Does that mean we can't have a conversation around the sexist, ableist, racist culture that has sprouted up in gaming circles? Absolutely not.
The reality is, much as Innuendo Studios lays out for us in The Alt-Right Playbook: How to Radicalize a Normie, there is a problem in these communities. They are often actively hostile to women and minorities, turning good faith discussions into incoherent discourse about whether or not Lara Croft should have her triangle tits back in the latest reimagining of Tomb Raider. The nature of this is likely to poison the well, preventing people from thinking critically and having a proactive discussion by overloading them with buzzwords and dog whistles. They help to drive wedges between groups by placing the blame on some nebulous "pro-censorship left," instead of allowing people to address the problem: that there is a Nazi infestation in gaming circles.
And the online "left" often fall hook, line, and sinker. Much of the online "left" is made up of young (often American or Americanized) liberals, who have likely not had the time to weigh out the nuances between "Sexy video game ladies can exist, even if it makes me uncomfortable," and "The industry as a whole has a problem, but that itself is the result of a wider societal failing." Many of these teens and young adults spend most of their time on X participating in "slacktivism," which likely does more harm than good. These people are then preyed upon by similar alt-right groups (such as the Gender Critical movement) and are then converted into a conservative mindset by way of exploiting their discomfort about a given topic (such as killing a stripper in Grand Theft Auto or sexualized "loli" characters in JRPGs).
Ultimately, the discussion is purposefully pushed into a more reactionary direction, making it easier for the right to grandstand about how the left wants to "take away their games," or whatever flavor of absurdity they are spewing that particular day. The left (or the liberal-centrists, as the alt-right will call anything the "left" if it suits them) will then be encouraged to react aggressively and with disgust, thereby controlling the narrative through the exploitation of useful idiots. In the end, the conversation fails to progress, and people continue to pointlessly scream at each other online, while those participating in truly atrocious behaviors are widely ignored in favor of the immediate satisfaction of telling a person who enjoyed Catherine to go kill themselves.
Hopefully we can refocus the discussion on the real issues in gaming circles, and leave behind the reactionary behavior encouraged by modern social media algorithms.
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