On August 23, 2025, Constantin Winkler was a guest at the NRW Youth Forum at Gamescom. In a panel discussion, he spoke on the topic of “This is not a game – extremism in games” and used concrete examples to show how radicalization takes place in digital games. A recording of the discussion can be found on the NRW Youth Forum's YouTube channel (in German).
In conversation with moderator Aylin, Constantin Winkler explains how extremists abuse games and their community platforms for their own purposes. His examples illustrate to Gamescom visitors how right-wing extremist groups or Islamist actors specifically use gaming communities to spread their ideologies.
Constantin Winkler works at PRIF on the RadiGaMe joint project, in which eight partner institutions are investigating radicalization phenomena in digital communication spaces. RadiGaMe began its work two years ago, when attacks such as those in Christchurch and Halle highlighted the influence of gaming communities on radicalization.
Constantin Winkler's research focuses on anti-Semitism in digital gaming communities. In his dissertation, he examines anti-Semitic phenomena and their effects and forms of expression. He deals with the actors and groups behind them as well as the ideological foundations of anti-Semitism in digital gaming communities.
In a recent research article entitled “Exploring the digital extremist ecosystem: a preliminary analysis of hateful posts on Mod DB,” together with colleagues he analyzes the Mod DB forum and shows how widespread extremist ideas are, even in this previously little-noticed digital space. The aim of his work is to expand existing research on extremist activities on gaming and community platforms.