Thread by @metasynthie

Glad to see threads like these; connections between spread of political ideology and games|culture keep coming up but it's a complex topic that needs much more discussion, especially as large "apolitical" companies fearfully put their heads in the sand.

https://twitter.com/ellaguro/status/1146689613483925505?s=20

I keep seeing two knee-jerk reactions: first, insisting studies have failed to support links from game violence to violent behavior. Games->violence is such an old and hoary question, and not even the right question anymore! There are any number of ways games can affect humans.

Should we be surprised if the simplest, first politician-promoted theory about how people might be affected by games has gaping holes in it? No. Should we stop asking more questions about games and effects? Also a no. Fear of "another Tipper Gore" isn't productive or responsible.

Second, countering a straw-idea that recruiting/effects are simply driven by game "content," as if in a deliberate attempt to program brains. As @ellaguro points out it's much more complex than "propaganda;" profit seeks easy opportunities to capitalize on what's already there.

@ellaguro So what's worth paying attention to? Certainly profit reasons for industry complacency, which
@ellaguro covers well. Also: reports that far-right recruitment is being actively practiced in online game spaces (see this whole thread with multiple sources)
reddit.com/r/IAmA/comment…

@ellaguro A year ago, this story was picked up across media's political spectrum; as @cecianasta then pointed out, it's not clear how widepread it is; reporting had a bit of media-panic vibe.
Fox: foxnews.com/tech/fortnite-… NPR: npr.org/2018/11/05/660…
Kotaku analysis: kotaku.com/npr-is-very-wo…

@ellaguro @cecianasta You could dismiss SOME edgy swastikas as "kids being stupid." But people who study how "extremist groups" (variously defined) recruit will tell you that it'd be much MORE surprising if there was no such recruiting happening in online games. They just seek young, alienated people.

@ellaguro @cecianasta The real question is how do communities respond? For a lot of small, tightly-managed channels, forums, etc around gaming, there's simply zero-tolerance for this kind of thing, which is also how many punk, goth, metal communities have tried to stem neo-Nazi recruiting in the past.

@ellaguro @cecianasta For a longer examination of how this intersects with other nerd cultures: medium.com/@DeoTasDevil/h…
If you told me twenty years ago that furry culture would get a white-nationalism infection I'd have eyebrow-popped. But almost any cultural-outsider group can be prone to it?

@ellaguro @cecianasta Trickier aspect: for devs, it may be tempting to kick this problem down to (irresponsible) "platforms" and (traumatize) community managers. "They're supposed to set boundaries, grow gardens with positive norms!" But can we afford to assume that our games play no role at all?

@ellaguro @cecianasta Again, I don't think it's as simple as pointing a finger at "content" as an explanation. "Punk music is angry-sounding -> angry young men -> extremist violent recruiting!" It's both way too simple and might not be 100% false, right? There are deeper roots.

@ellaguro @cecianasta Are there intrinsic issues arising from games and game design? In Spring 2018 I ended up discussing this briefly in a GDC microtalk on failures of systems thinking, but my boss @flantz went into more depth.
Watch: gdcvault.com/play/1025011/T…
Read a summary: gamedev.net/industry/game-…

@ellaguro @cecianasta @flantz My attempt at a brief summary: new literacies (e.g. writing literacy in the ancient world) instigate concomitant social challenges as they spread. If "system literacy" is a new literacy, it may be accompanied a difficult gap in how rationality relates to social relations.

@ellaguro @cecianasta @flantz This gap can occur as systems or simple rational accounts are questioned, seen as objects of design, and no longer taken for granted. If this induces vertigo, some can tip into a kind of nihilism where no systems, boundaries, principles of relating have any meaning or import.

@ellaguro @cecianasta @flantz To the extent that games partake in (semi-arbitrary!) systems to create meaningful, reflective, escapist or entertaining experiences, we have a responsibility to address problems arising from this literacy, not just act as boosters for it.