The internet has currently seen the rise of many right-leaning figures. While progressive ideas still dominate most popular culture, conservative views have found a haven within online spaces. While there isn’t a specific reason as to why that is, the video game industry and the culture around it certainly are one of the leading causes.
For some time, video games have largely held a majority of the male population in their user base. Games like Call of Duty, Helldrivers, and others within the first-person-shooter (FPS) genre have content that has captivated male audiences and fulfilled power fantasies.
While unintentional, these games have drawn the eye of many organizations, like the US military, for recruitment. Even outside of gaming, army recruiters are almost a regular staple at comic and anime conventions. People tend to forget that the gaming community is one of the few spaces where they can socialize.
As physical gatherings lessened, the internet offered an avenue for gamers across the globe to connect and form friendships and bring new ideas to the table. Unfortunately, this has also made these spaces an easy breeding ground for toxic ideologies. The easiest example can be from the online harassment campaign GamerGate, which was a backlash against progressive ideas like diversity and feminism within the gaming industry in 2014.
For many, Gamergate echoed many of the talking points current right-leaning media use, including conspiracy theories, victimization, racism, misogyny, sexuality, and gender discrimination. The movement tapped into a demographic of people, young white men, who had felt alienated by progressive culture. Now, it is that same group that has grown to become a prominent force in modern far-right politics.
