Expanding the Extremist and Terrorist Games Database: Sandbox Experiences and VR Games Through the Lens of Violent Misogyny

The exploitation of gaming spaces by extremist and terrorist actors is a well-documented and evolving phenomenon. The Extremist and Terrorist Games Database (ETGD) currently catalogs over 350 video games, modifications, and user-generated content spanning over 30 years and provides critical insights into this exploitation. This paper accompanies an expansion of the ETGD to include sandbox gaming and virtual reality gaming, spaces that remain underexplored while providing risks and opportunities for radicalization. This research seeks to expand these broader trends into a specific framework: the ETGD and corresponding codebook. The paper will examine how misogyny and specific forms of gender-based violence manifests across extremist games, modifications, and user-generated content. We will assess how online misogyny operates not only as an ideological companion to many forms of violent extremism, but as a standalone form of violent extremism and socializing force within gaming subcultures. We will also look at how misogyny is leveraged to groom and socialize individuals to violence across gaming titles in the ETGD. By integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches, this research aims to enhance scholarly understanding of gaming as a site of ideological contestation to help inform policy and platform interventions to counter terrorist and violent actors’ exploitation of gaming.