Epic Masculinity: The Gender Politics of Far-Right Influencers’ Commentary on Video Game Fiction

Several authors have noted that toxic ‘geek masculinity’ and associated conflicts about video games have played a role in digital far-right mobilisation (e.g. Bezio, 2018; Mortensen 2018), with games often being constructed as the cultural property of (usually white) men (Salter, 2018). However, such observations about video games and far-right gender politics neglect to explore far-right engagement with the fictional content of games. This reflects a wider lack of engagement with the role of audiovisual fiction in far-right politics, despite the fact that it has been sporadically acknowledged that motifs and characters from audiovisual fiction are a recurring feature of far-right gender discourse (e.g. Nagle, 2017; Tuters, 2019) and that mythology and storytelling play a role in far-right constructions of gendered collectivity (e.g., Nilan, 2021; Castle & Parsons, 2019). Narrative-driven video games are a form of audiovisual fiction with a uniquely interactive storytelling capacity and a strong impetus for (gendered) identity exploration (Robson & Meskin, 2016; Anderson et al., 2017; McKenna et al., 2022). As such, understanding far-right engagement with the narrative fictional content of games not only develops scholarly understanding of how gaming culture relates to far-right and anti-feminist mobilisation, but also of how the far-right relates to audiovisual fiction more generally. This ongoing research discursively analyses 50 videos from YouTube and Rumble containing commentary on the fictional content of video games by far-right influencers, focusing specifically on gender discourses present in these videos. It examines two interrelated facets of the role of fictional video game content in far right-gender discourse. Firstly, it explores how engagement with the narrative content of games is used to construct ideal masculinities and femininities, providing a deeper understanding of the role of narrative, tropes, and mythology in far-right ingroup identity. Secondly, it explores how engagement with and criticism of video game fiction is used to bring far-right ideas about gender and society into new contexts, tapping strategically into both the subcultural significance of games and their increasing importance to mainstream pop culture. The research thus also has wider implications for understanding the relationship between video games and gendered political identities.