Let’s play extremism - mainstreaming far-right ideas through video-gameplay

"Let’s play" extremism is an exploratory research project examining the remediation of gaming videos on YouTube and other video streaming platforms, produced and shared by far-right accounts. The investigation aims to shed new light on two different phenomena within the (far-right) gaming community. We analyze how (a) mainstream games co-opted by far-right political actors are received, potentially contributing toward greater mainstream engagement with far-right, supremacist and exclusivist political ideals. We further examine how (b) games that lend themselves to far-right interpretations due to their focus on (reinventing) historical events, as well as game-modifications are used and commented on (far-right) gamers and their communities. We conduct qualitative analyses of both kinds of game-play videos. The paper further relies on a mixed-method approach, accounting for the socio-technical environment that allows users to host and monetize their content. We examine how creators engage with their audience, and if and how far-right issues, ideals and grievances are woven into the commentary offered by the creator.