Examining Radicalization Using a Game Paradigm: The Opponent Immersion Game
article
Political violence poses a significant risk to society, but research is challenging due to low base rates of this behavior and ethical constraints of experimentally manipulating such behavior. We examined whether a game paradigm can model the process of radicalization leading up to political violence and explored the role of changes in attitudes toward violence in this process. We hypothesized that people who developed more positive attitudes towards violence would be more likely to join a radical group and engage in political violence in the Opponent Immersion Game (OIG). The OIG is an interactive graphic serious game that models and measures radicalization through immersive situations of social exclusion, discrimination, and inequality. Three datasets from the OIG were aggregated (N = 410). In total, 261 participants (63.7 percent) joined the radical group and 211 (51.5 percent) engaged in political violence within the OIG. People who developed more positive attitudes towards violence were more likely to join the radical group and engage in political violence. Exploratory analyses also suggested these outcomes differed depending on pre-existing differences in perspective-taking and how people made in-game decisions. These findings suggest game paradigms can be a valuable tool for understanding real-life decisions and experiences that contribute to radicalization. © 2025 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
TNO Identifier
1021318
Source
Terrorism and Political Violence, pp. Epub 24 Nov.
Pages
Epub 24 Nov
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