Gamification — the use of game design elements within non-game contexts [1] such as points, leaderboards or badges – has existed as a concept for quite some time, but has seen a rise in academic attention from 2010 onwards [2]. The goal of gamification is to attain desirable behavioral changes in users by making engagement more appealing and motivating them to actively collect points and rise on the leaderboards [3]. It is most often applied in the commercial sector, particularly in the field of advertising [5]. However, it is also used to enhance educational experiences [4], employee performance, promote healthy lifestyles or exercise and advance environmental protection [6].
Increasingly, elements from games and gaming culture, as well as actual games, are being utilized by extremist organizations to support their radicalization and recruitment efforts and ‘gamification’ has appeared as a buzzword in multiple publications on extremist violence, especially since the 2019 terrorist attack in Halle, Germany [7]. Gaming culture — especially first-person shooter games — is part of popular culture, and, as such, is utilized by extremist organizations in a similar manner as allusions to Hollywood movies — one extremist nicknamed himself Irhabi 007, a clear reference to James Bond – or stylistic elements of MTV music videos [8]. The so-called Islamic State (ISIS) has been especially proactive in utilizing elements familiar to potential recruits from Western popular culture — especially games. An example of this is a famous tweet by chief ISIS propagandist Junaid Hussein where he says: “You can sit at home and play call of duty or you can come and respond to the real call of duty…the choice is yours”. Another example of this appears in a 2016 propaganda video entitled “Fight them. Allah will punish them by your hands” where footage taken by HD helmet cameras is used to resemble first-person shooter games. All of these tactics aim to draw in potential recruits by exploiting familiar imagery.
Gamification vs. extremist games
One needs to be careful, however, to distinguish between gamification and extremist games themselves. Video games such as ISIS’ Salil al-Swarim [The Clanging of the Swords] (which was allegedly never launched), Hezbollah’s Special Force (of which, surprisingly, YouTube hosts a number of “Let’s Play” videos) and Holy Defense [9] or the Daily Stormer’s modification of Doom 2, which encourages players to fight against a Jewish world conspiracy and includes options for genocide [10], do not fall under the current definition of gamification. These games might be characterized as the radicalization of games rather than a gamification of radicalization because extremist content is transmitted through an actual game rather than the use of game elements in a non-game context.
Leaving actual video games aside, recent years have seen an increase in the use of gamification elements by extremist organizations. To be sure, some elements of gamification such as points and rankings and even ‘radicalization meters’ to track an individual’s ‘progress’ were already present in jihadist online forums ten years ago [11], but the proliferation of gamification in extremist contexts is a relatively recent phenomenon. Gamification is usually regarded as a top-down mechanism — Nike gamifies the experience of its Nike+ users and MovePill gamifies the daily task of taking one’s medicine [12]. In a similar vein, one could argue that ISIS partially gamified radicalization by extensively utilizing elements from Call of Duty and that the Identitäre Bewegung (Identitarian Movement) sought to partially gamify the experience of its supporters through the app Patriot Peer, which included the collection of points for connecting with other members, being rewarded for attending events or visiting cultural sites as well as a Pokemon-Go-like ‘Patriot Radar’ to spot like-minded individuals nearby [13].
Bottum-up gamification
Gamification, however, also seems to take place in a bottom-up or self-directed manner. Considering that gamification is usually regarded as a top-down process, the process of gamifying experiences by the users themselves may require critical discussion and potentially the development of a more conceptually clear and sound term for this phenomenon. For now, however, I will employ the terms ‘bottom-up gamification’ or ‘self-gamification’ for descriptive purposes of this process.
Bottom-up gamification is evident, for instance, in the new trend to livestream attacks, which has been observed, for instance, in Christchurch, El Paso and Halle [14]. Livestreams gamify violent extremism in two ways: First, they gamify the experience for the perpetrator himself. Anders Breivik recalled how he prepared for his attack that killed 77 people in Norway in 2011 with first-person shooter games and how he felt like he became his avatar – that is, his on-screen character – during the shooting. Similarly, in Christchurch, El Paso and Halle the shooters seem to have been familiar with gaming environments and employed both the skills they acquired and the visual style often found in first-person shooter games during their attacks. They blurred the boundary between the real and the virtual world by transporting gaming elements into their attacks. Games are more than a ‘cool’ reference to popular culture, they are, for some, a way to structure reality. In essence, these perpetrators gamified their experience by transferring game elements into a real, non-gaming situation.
Secondly, by livestreaming their actions, they also gamified the experience for their audience. Livestreaming of gaming or “Let’s Play” videos — which both build upon the desire to watch someone else play video games — are increasingly popular. For instance, in April 2018 alone, users spent more than 128 million hours watching others play the video game Fortnite on the livestreaming platform Twitch [15]. Livestreaming is, therefore, a familiar tool in the gaming community and has been utilized by extremists to increase their visibility and appeal to potential gaming audiences who are familiar with this mode of engagement. Livestreams can, as the name suggests, also be engaged with and discussed by the audience in real time, making it an interactive extremist experience like no other. Users have gone even further in gamifying these experiences by discussing the attacks with reference to video game components. After the attack in Christchurch, for instance, users on 8chan commented on the high body count the perpetrator ‘achieved’ and expressed a desire to ‘beat his score’ [16]. After the El Paso attack, users on the same platform referred to the perpetrator as ‘our guy’ and alluded to his ‘high score’ [17]. Again, reality is structured by employing game terminology and is re-imagined as a game containing high scores and leader boards — a clear sign of bottom-up gamification.
Conclusion
Gamification has only recently come to the forefront of attention in the context of extremist organizations and radicalization processes, but it is very likely that more and more extremist organizations will utilize elements of gamification in their propaganda tools and recruitment processes. Judging from experience, extremist organizations adapt quickly to new technological advancements, whether internet forums, social media sites, chatrooms or apps and it is unlikely that the psychological benefits of gamifying experiences will go unutilized in the realm of extremism. Therefore, academics and practitioners alike advise a comprehensive study into the implications of gamification for radicalization processes and extremist violence.
European Eye on Radicalization aims to publish a diversity of perspectives and as such does not endorse the opinions expressed by contributors. The views expressed in this article represent the author alone.
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References
[1] Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R. and Nacke, L., From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness: Defining Gamification. Conference Paper, (2011) Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230854710_From_Game_Design_Elements_to_Gamefulness_Defining_Gamification/link/00b7d5315ab1be3c37000000/download
[2] Sailer, M., Hense, J., Mayr, S. and Mandl, H., How gamification motivates: An experimental study of the effects of specific game design elements on psychological need satisfaction. Computers in Human Behavior. Vol. 69, pp. 371-380, (2017)
[3] Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J., McCarthy, I. and Pitt, L., Is it all a game? Understanding the principles of gamification, Business Horizons, Vol. 58, pp. 411-420 (2015)
[4] Bittner, J. and Schipper, J., Motivational effects and age differences of gamification in product advertising, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 31 (5), pp. 391-400 (2014)
[5] Blohm, I. and Leimeister, J., Gamification: Design of IT-Based Enhancing Services for Motivational Support and Behavioral Change, Business & Information Systems Engineering. Vol. 5 (4), pp. 275-278, (2013)
[6] See for instance:
Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J., McCarthy, I. and Pitt, L., Game on: Engaging customers and employees through gamification, Business Horizons, Vol. 59, pp. 29-36, (2016)
Gonzalez, C., Gomez, N., Navarro, V, Cairos, M., Quirce, C., Toledo, P. and Marreo-Gordillo, N., Learning healthy lifestyles through active videogames, motor games and the gamification of educational activities, Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 55, pp. 529-551, (2016)
Hamari, J. and Koivisto, J., “Working out for likes”: An empirical study on social influence in exercise gamification, Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 50, pp. 333-347, (2015)
Jagust, T., Boticki, I. and So, H-J., Examining competitive, collaborative and adaptive gamification in young learners’ math learning, Computers & Education, Vol. 125, pp. 444-457, (2018)
[7] Mackintosh, E. and Mezzofiore, G., How the extreme right gamified terror, CNN (October 10, 2019). Retrieved from: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/10/europe/germany-synagogue-attack-extremism-gamified-grm-intl/index.html
Ayyadi, K., The gamification of terror—when hate becomes a game, Belltower News, (2019) Retrieved from: https://www.belltower.news/anti-semitic-attack-in-halle-the-gamification-of-terror-when-hate-becomes-a-game-92439/
[8] Stenersen, A., “A History of Jihadi Cinematography”in Hegghammer, T. (edt). Jihadi Culture: The Art and Social Practices of Militant Islamists, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp.108-127, (2017)
[9] Rose, S.‚ ‘Holy Defense’: Hezbollah issues call of duty to video gamers, (2018) Retrieved from: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/holy-defence-hezbollah-issues-call-duty-video-gamers
[10] Ebner, J., Radikalisierungsmaschinen: Wie Extremisten die neuen Technologien nutzen und uns manipulieren, Suhrkamp Nova: Berlin, (2019)
[11] Hsu, J., Terrorists Use Online Games To Recruit Future Jihadis, NBC News, (September 16, 2011). Retrieved from: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44551906/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/t/terrorists-use-online-games-recruit-future-jihadis/#.Xf-ydUdKg2w
[12] Blohm, I. and Leimeister, J., Gamification: Design of IT-Based Enhancing Services for Motivational Support and Behavioral Change, Business & Information Systems Engineering. Vol. 5 (4), pp. 275-278, (2013)
[13] Ebner, J., Radikalisierungsmaschinen: Wie Extremisten die neuen Technologien nutzen und uns manipulieren, Suhrkamp Nova: Berlin, (2019)
Brust, S, Rechtsextreme Scheinspielereien, TAZ (June 7, 2018). Retrieved from: https://taz.de/App-der-identitaeren-Bewegung/!5511139/
Prinz, M., “Patriot Peer” als Mischung zwischen Tinder und Pokemon Go, Belltower News (February 28, 2017). Retrieved from: https://www.belltower.news/heimatliebe-im-app-store-patriot-peer-als-mischung-aus-tinder-und-pokemon-go-43312/
[14] Macklin, G., The Christchurch Attacks: Livestream Terror in the Viral Video Age, CTC Sentinel, Vol. 23 (6), pp. 18-29, (2019)
Evans, R., The El Paso Shooting and the Gamification of Terror, Bellingcat (August 4, 2019), Retrieved from: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2019/08/04/the-el-paso-shooting-and-the-gamification-of-terror/
Ayyadi, K., The gamification of terror— when hate becomes a game, Belltower News, (2019) Retrieved from: https://www.belltower.news/anti-semitic-attack-in-halle-the-gamification-of-terror-when-hate-becomes-a-game-92439/
[15] Bowles, N., All We Want to Do Is Watch Each Other Play Video Games, The New York Times (May 2, 2018) Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/style/fortnite.html
[16] Evans, R., The El Paso Shooting and the Gamification of Terror, Bellingcat, (August 4, 2019). Retrieved from: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2019/08/04/the-el-paso-shooting-and-the-gamification-of-terror/
[17] Editorial Board, Beware of the rabbit hole of radicalization, The Washington Post (August 6, 2019). Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/beware-the-rabbit-hole-of-radicalization/2019/08/06/0d589a96-b7bc-11e9-a091-6a96e67d9cce_story.html
