Gaming, Radicalization, and the Politics of Online Play

Digital gaming is a global, social, and cultural space where people interact, communicate, and form communities across boundaries. As online gaming platforms, streaming services, and gaming-related social networks expand, concerns emerge regarding their role in political socialization, ideological influence, and radicalization. The interactive nature of gaming environments can create opportunities for extremist narratives, recruitment efforts, and the normalization of harmful beliefs, while also serving as spaces for civic engagement, identity formation, and political expression. Understanding the relationship between gaming, radicalization, and the politics of online play may further reveal how digital cultures shape contemporary political attitudes, social behaviors, and security challenges. Gaming, Radicalization, and the Politics of Online Play examines how digital gaming environments evolve into complex socio-political spaces where identity formation, ideological dissemination, and radicalization processes intersect. It explores how multiplayer platforms, streaming cultures, in-game communication systems, and online communities contribute to the circulation of political narratives, including extremist ideologies. This book covers topics such as geopolitics, religious studies, and sociology, and is a useful resource for game developers, government officials, policymakers, sociologists, academicians, researchers, and political scientists.