Together with the Risk Dialogue Foundation, 5am Games and other project partners, we developed an online game that strengthens young people's digital skills. The aim is to sensitise young people to online and offline radicalisation mechanisms.
Radicalisation and extremism are on the rise. On 22 August, the Tages-Anzeiger headlines ‘Switzerland has an above-average number of cases of radicalised young people’. There seems to be great concern among the population, as other media reports show. Schools and social workers in particular are alarmed, as young people are especially vulnerable to radicalisation processes. Digital spaces play a crucial role here.
This is precisely where our ‘Gaming against Extremism’ project comes in. Together with Stiftung Risiko-Dialog and the video game studio 5am Games, we created the serious online game ‘Radical Choices’ as part of the National Action Plan to Prevent and Counter Radicalisation and Violent Extremism (NAP) to strengthen the digital skills of young people. The project is primarily aimed at youth and social workers who would like to use the game in their work. All information on how you can become part of it can be found on our project website.
Nowadays, information is not only obtained and opinions formed in person, but also in the digital space. Social platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram reinforce this dynamic, especially among young people. Although political actors are increasingly focusing on these platforms and using them themselves, the relevance of the gaming sector is often overlooked. This is fatal, as studies such as the collective publication “Gaming and Extremism. The Radicalisation of Digital Playgrounds", published in March 2024, clearly show that the gamification of radicalization is taking place. Well-known games such as Minecraft, but also games being developed by right-wing extremist groups such as Patriot Peer or Heimat Defender, serve as a breeding ground for extremist ideologies.
The “Toolkit for digital skills” project was launched to counter this threat. The aim is to develop a game together with youth and social workers, but also with young people, that enables young people to playfully improve their digital skills in a familiar environment and understand the mechanisms of radicalization.
A project website (“toolkit”) was created around the “Radical Choices” game. The website provides further informative content for youth workers, such as discussion guidelines, factsheets, a glossary and contact points.
Playful Education Against Extremism
"Radical Choices" offers a safe online space in which users can experience the dynamics of radicalisation for themselves and strengthen their own resilience. Youth workers accompany the game experience and can use the game as a basis for discussion with young people on the topic of radicalisation and extremism. They help the young people to analyse and reflect on the scenarios experienced in the game, which strengthens their resilience to extremist content.
The game was developed within the project framework until the end of 2024. Our aim is to be able to continue the project beyond this period in order to further optimize the game on the one hand and to scale it more broadly and thus make it accessible to French-speaking Switzerland, among others.
Digital Projects & Products
The Dezentrum is a team of experts with many years of experience in science, design, business and technology. We help with the implementation of digitisation projects and product development.
The "Gaming Against Extremism" project is being developed as part of the National Action Plan to Prevent and Counter Radicalisation and Violent Extremism (NAP) and is funded by a large number of supporters: Palatin Foundation, Lucerne Lottery Fund, Swisslos Fund Basel-Stadt, Swisslos Canton Aargau, Canton Zug, Lottery Fund Zug, Swisslos Fund Canton Solothurn. We would like to thank all our supporters!
Extracts from the media: Tagesschau from 30.6.2024, from minute 15:40 Tages-Anzeiger from 30 June 2024 (paywall)
