Abstract
Cases of domestic terrorism have increased in the last few years. Although executed in often remote locations worldwide, they share a lot of resemblances, the most striking ones of which have resulted in their recent gamified character as seen in achievement systems and first-person shooter esthetics. This chapter is an attempt to understand the so-called “gamification of terror” by looking for answers not in videogames per se but in their capacity to build communities, however destructive they might turn. The authors propose to see gamified acts of terror as dark rituals “played out” in liminal spaces to argue with the anthropologist Victor Turner.
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Notes
- 1.
4Chan and 8Chan are unregulated anonymous discussion boards. Gab can be described as an ultra-libertarian social media site. Amongst others, they have been attracting far-right propagandists (Davey and Ebner 2019).
- 2.
It is difficult to pinpoint the origin of the term. Gamification of extremism seems to have been brought to public attention for the first time in March 2019 after the mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand. In August 2019 the “phrases gamification of terror” and “gamification of terrorism” were widely used in international media in the aftermath of the El Paso mass shooting. Previously, the term “gamification” was employed within the context of American drone warfare (Pugliese 2017) and the ISIS game modification of the videogame Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar Games 2013).
- 3.
Gab Social: https://not-develop.gab.com/about.
- 4.
A reference to Jane McGonigal’s book titled Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World (2010).
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Ludography
America’s Army (United States Army 2002, O: United States Army)
Death Race (Exidy 1976, O: Exidy)
Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar Games 2013, O: Rockstar North)
Tank (Kee Games, Atari 1974, O: Kee Games)
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Fizek, S., Dippel, A. (2020). Gamification of Terror—Power Games as Liminal Spaces. In: Groen, M., Kiel, N., Tillmann, A., Weßel, A. (eds) Games and Ethics. Digitale Kultur und Kommunikation, vol 7. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28175-5_6
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