No—not in the broad sense the headline suggests. A 2022 study found that stronger “identity fusion” with gaming culture was associated with selected self-reported measures of sexism, racism, and aggressive behavior. It did not show that gamers overall are more racist or sexist, or that playing games causes prejudice.
What the 2022 study actually measured
Rachel Kowert, Alexi Martel, and William B. Swann’s 2022 study, “Not just a game: Identity fusion and extremism in gaming cultures,” examined whether people’s psychological bond with gaming culture was associated with various attitudes and behaviors. The key predictor was identity fusion: a strong sense of oneness with a group, not simply playing video games or casually calling oneself a gamer.
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The authors report associations between stronger fusion and selected outcomes, including willingness to fight or die for gaming culture, hostile sexism, extrinsic racism, and recent aggressive behavior. These are distinct measures, not a single finding that gamers as a group are “more racist and sexist.” The results also varied by outcome and statistical model; for example, right-wing authoritarianism and benevolent sexism did not retain a unique association with fusion in models that included political predictors.
Who took part, and what can the results represent?
The paper reports three studies using selected U.S. player samples, not a representative sample of everyone who plays games. Study 1 retained 304 participants after exclusions from 310 recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Study 2 retained 294 of 304 recruited participants. Study 3 recruited Minecraft or Call of Duty players and retained 330 Minecraft players and 315 Call of Duty players.
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These samples can show patterns among the people surveyed, but they do not establish how common the measured attitudes are among gamers generally. Nor does the comparison of Minecraft and Call of Duty players establish that either game causes prejudice.
Association is not proof that games cause prejudice
The 2022 studies relied on self-reports and correlational analyses. They cannot determine whether strong identification with gaming culture contributes to the measured attitudes, whether people who already hold those attitudes become more fused with gamer identity, or whether other factors contribute to both. The paper’s abstract describes fusion as predictive of certain outcomes, but that statistical relationship should not be read as proof of cause.
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The article also notes that the studies were not preregistered and that study data were not deposited in a permanent third-party archive; requests for data could be directed to the corresponding author. Those details are relevant when assessing how the findings can be checked and interpreted, but they do not change the central distinction between an association in selected samples and a claim about all gamers.
What the 2024 survey says about hate in gaming spaces
A separate 2024 survey, “Taking it to the extreme: prevalence and nature of extremist sentiment in games,” asked adults about content they had witnessed or experienced in gaming spaces. It is evidence about reported exposure—not a measurement of whether gamers themselves hold racist or sexist beliefs.
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The survey received 423 responses, then excluded people outside the United States or United Kingdom and six additional responses for validity or response-pattern reasons, leaving 361 observations. Respondents were 18–63 years old; 85.3% lived in the United States and 14.7% in the United Kingdom. In this sample:
- 86.43% reported both witnessing and being directly targeted by some kind of extremist content in gaming spaces.
- 76.73% reported witnessing misogyny, and the same share reported witnessing racism.
- 47.09% reported being directly targeted by misogyny; 24.38% reported being directly targeted by racism.
Each percentage describes the 361 survey respondents and their reports of exposure or targeting. None is an estimate of the share of all gamers who hold sexist or racist attitudes.
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How to read the evidence together
| Evidence | What it measured | What it supports | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kowert, Martel, and Swann (2022) | Identity fusion with gaming culture and selected self-reported attitudes and behaviors among recruited U.S. players | Associations between stronger fusion and some measured outcomes in those samples | That gamers generally are more racist or sexist, or that gaming causes those outcomes |
| 2024 *Frontiers in Psychology* survey | Adult respondents’ reports of witnessing or being targeted by extremist content in gaming spaces | That these respondents reported substantial exposure or targeting | That exposed people hold extremist views, or that the reported rates represent all gamers |
Later work provides context for why hostile environments matter without resolving the causal question. Cynthia Miller-Idriss’s 2025 discussion of misogyny and gender policing in gaming considers how everyday sexism and hate may circulate in these environments. A 2024 Royal United Services Institute report likewise discusses hate and harassment while calling for further research into exposure, radicalization, and recruitment. It cautions that exposure does not mean a person is more likely to adopt extremist views.
Bottom line on the headline
The headline overstates what the studies confirm. The 2022 research identifies associations involving unusually strong fusion with gaming culture and particular self-reported outcomes; it does not label gamers as a whole more racist or sexist. The later survey documents respondents’ experiences of hateful content in gaming spaces, a related concern but a different question.
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