The Guardian Claims Sci-Fi Video Games, FarmVille Promote Racism and Right-Wing Ideology

The Guardian claimed video games create racism and promote right-wing ideology in an article published Monday, citing the “expulsion of aliens” in sci-fi games and “border control” in Plants vs Zombies.

“Gaming cultures are connected to violence – but should be considered in terms of the rise of far right political discourse and the prominence of ‘alt-right’ misogyny and racism,” wrote author Alfie Brown in his article for the Guardian. “The white male supremacy in gaming has been discussed in the context of the harassment campaign Gamergate and via the link between Trump and gamer message board threads on the 4chan website. Yet it’s not simply that many gamers are right wing, or that the right recruits gamers, but that the logic and pleasure of gaming itself has served and continues to serve the political right.”

Brown, who previously wrote a book about Candy Crush and capitalism, then cited Space Invaders, Civilization, Mario, Plants vs Zombies, and even FarmVille as video games that inspire right wing ideology, claiming, “video games have long focused on the expulsion of ‘aliens’ (Space Invaders to XCOM), fear of impure infection (Half-Life to The Last of Us), border control (Missile Commander to Plants vs Zombies), territory acquisition (Command & Conquer to Splatoon), empire building (Civilization to Tropico), princess recovery (Mario to Zelda), and restoration of natural harmony (Sonic to FarmVille).”

He also added that gamers “feel impulsive agreement with these ideologies,” after playing the games.

Brown was quickly mocked over the article online, with many users on Twitter calling his argument “bizarre.”

https://twitter.com/JamesLiamCook/status/973134842694160384

One of the worst parts of this garbage article is that this can all be reframed as leftwing:
Expulsion of colonialist aggressors
Promotion of medical science
Ensuring safe spaces
Establishing a prosperous society
Freeing women from oppression
etc.https://t.co/Mz4Rvh3jAY pic.twitter.com/KPPeioQk0W

— yokotaster (@neontaster) March 12, 2018

https://twitter.com/notwokieleaks/status/973228764271448066

https://twitter.com/YeyoZa/status/973166936954691585

Sigh. Even cites Plants vs Zombies (for promoting border control).https://t.co/6Vt1x0sNqc

— (((Christian JB))) 🐌 (@christianjbdev) March 12, 2018

Critics of video games have jumped the shark when a literature professor use outdated Freudian theory, Space Invaders and Splatoon to make this bizarre argument. I honestly don’t even know where to start. https://t.co/FThIUcaW5D

— Patrick Markey (@patmarkey) March 12, 2018

The article was even mocked and criticized by other Guardian writers and employees, including writer Sam Thielman, and the news outlet’s blog network coordinator Dr. Pete Etchells, who called the article the “most asinine piece of writing about video games this year.”

https://twitter.com/PeteEtchells/status/973147382006407168

https://twitter.com/PeteEtchells/status/973175158746861568

https://twitter.com/samthielman/status/973200962637717504