Events

The nexus between videogaming and violent extremism

Dr Suraj Lakhani University of Sussex

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The videogaming industry is currently the most profitable entertainment sector with revenues estimated to be in the region of $282 billion USD for 2024. There are 3.3 billion people around the world playing videogames on mobile phones, laptops, desktops, consoles, and other devices; a figure concentrated among 16 to 24-year-olds. Engaging in videogaming has wide-ranging pro-social benefits including providing stress relief, community building, and enabling people to carve out identities and subcultures. While videogames are not a causal factor of violence, the nexus between videogaming and violent extremism is a growing concern. This presentation will explore these intersections, which include the creation of bespoke games and modifications by violent extremists, the gamification of violent extremism, communication through online gaming spaces, gaming (and wider) online extremist ecosystems, the use of gaming cultural references to disseminate propaganda and other functions, and the potential to finance terrorism through the exchange of gaming currencies and cryptocurrencies. This webinar will also include options for policy and operational responses.

About the speaker

Suraj Lakhani is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Sussex. He also holds the roles of Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and Research Fellow at VOX-Pol. Suraj is also part of: the Steering Board of the Extremism and Gaming Research Network (EGRN), the Leadership Team at VOX-Pol; the Christchurch Call New Technologies Working Group; the European Working Group on Radicalization, Extremism, and Terrorism at the European Society of Criminology; and the Home Office’s Accelerated Capability Environment (ACE) Research Network.

Suraj’s research interests include video-gaming and violent extremism, violent extremism and the internet, radicalisation, and counter-terrorism policy. He has published a number of peer reviewed journal articles in internationally recognised academic publications, including Critical Studies on Terrorism, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence, and The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, amongst others. He also has a number of book chapters in edited collections. Suraj has acted as primary investigator, both individually and leading recognised international consortiums, on research projects funded by, for example, the Home Office, European Commission, Research England, ESRC, British Academy, and the Leverhulme Trust.