Seehofer and the gamer scene: “Mom, the year 1998 called. They want their prejudices back!”
It is this one sentence that has brought Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer into criticism. With which he exposed a certain ignorance, with which he caused the anger of a lot of innocent people:
“We need to pay more attention to the gamer scene.”
This sentence from Horst Seehofer caused a veritable storm of criticism and ridicule from politicians and the internet last weekend. The Federal Minister of the Interior made it in response to the attack on a synagogue in Halle.
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The trend among politicians to blame computer games for attacks is particularly strange because those who make these claims have no experience with computer games at all, and at the same time try to give those people a simple explanation for an attack. who are also unfamiliar with computer games.
A simple solution is thus presented for a complicated problem. The result, however, is an open flash of incompetence and powerlessness. Instead of dealing with the real causes of school shootings and establishing real connections between school shootings (e.g. the people who commit the shootings are male, mentally unstable and already show clear radicalization tendencies), Seehofer tries to point out a supposed commonality, which, however, has no effect on the act had.
Absurd
Many users reduce this method to absurdity by pointing out, for example, that all gunmen eat meat, but that therefore no one would think of questioning meat. However, it is not the first time that the computer gaming scene has found itself in the crossfire of politics after an attack. The gamer scene is an easy target for politicians; gamers are a heterogeneous mass who have no direct contact person. Seehofer simply didn't understand that.
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And that is exactly the crux of the problem. In addition to the nonsense of the statement itself, people talk about “the gamer scene”, probably out of ignorance of the fact that with the current overwhelming number of games, none of them stands out so dominantly that they dominate the gamer scene as a whole.
Is Seehofer aware of the large selection of video games or are there only first-person shooters for him? Neither Fortnite, Counterstrike, World of Warcraft or Minecraft can claim to be the dominant game in the gamer scene, as they are currently the titles with the most players, but each of them is in a completely different game genre and sometimes completely different types of games appeals to gamers. From small children playing simple games on a Switch, to teenagers on consoles, to pensioners discovering strategy games on the PC, computer games are played by people of all ages. According to an estimate by Statista, there were 34 million players in Germany in 2019.
At this point one could cynically ask:
Does Horst Seehofer want to place 34 million Germans under general suspicion?
The statistics speak clearly: 34 million people enjoy playing computer games ( compare ). The statistics say:
There are more than 34 million gamers in Germany in 2019 and the number of players has remained almost unchanged for years.
However, in our opinion, this number will not remain unchanged, but will continue to rise in the next few years as video games (in whatever form) become more and more part of everyday life.
Even though Seehofer tried to put his first statement into perspective in a second statement yesterday (maybe someone told him that he was spreading nonsense?), it still remains stale. For the correct presentation, here is Seehofer's expansion, which, however, only appeared long after his first statement:
“We are currently examining all facets of how right-wing extremism can be better combated. We see that right-wing extremists abuse the Internet and gaming platforms as a platform for their illegal content. Whether analogue or digital: We want to fight right-wing extremists wherever they are active.”
What is and remains particularly annoying is that Seehofer's first statement does not speak of a problem with right-wing extremism, but at the same time sees the problems with people who regularly play video games. A false causality may simply have been established here.
Communication channels
What we are talking about here is the form of communication. It is the accompanying communication channels in which radical statements can be found. Stephan B. wanted publicity for his crime. He spreads his manifesto and also his livestream online. And unmoderated platforms are better suited to this than highly controlled platforms. For example, he wouldn't have been able to stream to this extent on Facebook because the platform is subject to such extensive control and he would probably have been blocked.
Incidentally, it wasn't actually the Twitch platform, which is more commonly used by gamers, that made his video known, but rather the newly uploaded versions that were distributed via messenger and other social platforms (4Chan or VK).
Therefore, we have to say very clearly: There is a problem with right-wing extremism and hatred on social media. And not just since yesterday. But social media is not the reason for this, social media is just used as a form of communication.
Glorification
Stephan B.'s path and his communication may well be like a video game. Who knows, maybe he saw himself in a game at that moment. Maybe it was about a “high score”. Maybe the communication channels he was familiar with were just a platform.
In the end, Stephan B. behaved as many terrorists have often done with their letters of responsibility. In doing so, he makes use of the ideal possibilities of his time. While terrorists used to send letters of responsibility to the media, today, thanks to the almost universally available network and easy access to social media, it is a different communication channel through which you can send your motivation and execution and hope that it reaches as many people as possible watch.
Some people are put off by it, others are encouraged! Since there is no gatekeeper function or moderation, especially on messengers or certain forums, the message can be distributed. And at this point we are now miles away from any gaming scene!
Of course there are right-wing extremists among gamers. Just like there are right-wing extremists in forums or on social media. The question is how much you allow their glorification or how much you oppose it (sometimes a courageous “ shut up ” is a clear signal).
Back to Seehofer
At this point, let's come back to the Federal Minister of the Interior, who suddenly brought the gamer scene on board last weekend and spread general suspicion around the world. This is actually not new, but one should really consider whether the causality suggested in it really corresponds to reality (then we would have over 34 million potential assassins in Germany), or whether this is simply a cliché for senseless activism (which in the end could even be used to justify why one is generally allowed to eavesdrop on messengers and similar digital communications).
What Seehofer shows here at the end: He uses prejudices that have existed for years and uses clichés. At the same time, he himself is part of the cliché because he shows how far removed he is from the material.
No, dear Mr. Seehofer. The gamers are not the problem. It's right-wing extremism. And maybe also politicians who don't want to recognize that.
This might also be of interest:
Kiez Döner in Halle: Disgusting reviews after the attack
Article image: Shutterstock / photocosmos1 / lassedesignen
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