According to a new study, people with a strong identification as gamers are more likely to engage in extreme behaviors such as racism and sexism.
As from the of take that published study “Identity fusion and extremism in gaming cultures‘ shows, people who identify themselves as gamers are more likely to engage in extreme behaviors such as racism or misogyny.
The study examines the potential role of “identity merging” in toxic parts of gaming communities. This describes a deep feeling of belonging to a group that influences one’s personal life so strongly that group-friendly behaviors are advocated even to one’s disadvantage.
In conversation with Vice emphasizes co-author Dr. Rachel Kowert said the results of the study only affect a small, toxic subset of gamers and there is no evidence of widespread extremism among gamers.
The phenomenon of identity fusion is not limited to the gaming scene. Studies have also produced similar results in the military and competitive sports sectors.
According to the research, gaming can be particularly conducive to creating identity fusions, particularly through shared experiences that are challenging and engaging.
“We have individual identities and social identities,” explains Kowert. “So I’m Rachel, I’m a woman and I’m a gamer. I love The Witcher. These are my social identities and they are separate.”
“Identity fusion means that social identity and individual identity merge and cannot be separated. …. The way the fusion develops makes them more prone to extreme behaviors.”
In all, the research included three studies that asked hundreds of American gamers about their beliefs and views on a variety of issues. Questions about gaming culture were then used to try to uncover a possible correlation to identity fusion.
One of the studies cites loneliness, attachment avoidance, and attachment anxiety as other factors in identity merging with gaming culture. Referring to the positive and negative aspects of gaming culture, it has been described as a double-edged sword.
The third study finds that antisocial behavior is more strongly correlated with competitive games like Call of Duty than with more cooperative games like Minecraft:
“When gamer identity is at the core of who you are, it seems to reflect what we call a toxic gamer culture, which tends to be more exclusionary than inclusive — things like racism, sexism, and misogyny,” Kowert told Vice. “All of these things that we know exist in gaming spaces seem to be internalized by those who identify very strongly as part of that community.”
Kowert does not want the study to be understood as a tool to attack the gaming community and reiterates that the result does not mean that all gamers are evil or extremists.
Rather, games are a wonderful thing that generally has more positives than negatives to offer. Discussions on this topic are necessary, however, because without them it would be difficult to alleviate the problems, according to the author.
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