The same good versus evil approach in online gaming is embedded in most conspiracy theories
08 January 2025 - 05:00
byShaun Read
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Conspiracy theories have been around for centuries, yet events surrounding last year’s US election suggest that their popularity and influence have increased exponentially, to the extent that they may have influenced the election outcome. The question is why.
We must, of course, distinguish between real conspiracies and conspiracy theories. Real conspiracies tend to remain unknown until they are exposed by solid evidence, such as the Watergate scandal. On the other hand, conspiracy theories are openly discussed but lack credible evidence to support them.
Central to all conspiracy theories is the notion that there is a powerful and sinister group of people pursuing a secret goal. For example, a number of those who stormed the US Capitol building on January 6 2021 were adherents to the conspiracy theory touted by an anonymous individual or individuals known as “Q”.
The so-called Qanon conspiracy promotes the belief that a cabal of satanic, cannibalistic child molesters is operating a global child sex trafficking ring and conspiring against Donald Trump. The Washington Post recently reported that 25% of people surveyed after the January 6 event believed the FBI had secretly instigated the whole affair.
Other surveys have revealed that two-thirds of Republican voters (and nearly three out of 10 Americans) continue to believe that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and that Joe Biden was not lawfully elected.
Belief in conspiracy theories appears to be driven by social psychological motives aimed at understanding and being safe in one’s environment in the face of unexplained or misunderstood events. Peer pressure also plays a role, with people not wanting to be seen as differing from the opinions of the social circles in which they move.
Yet these motives do not adequately explain why conspiracy theories are no longer the domain of the fringes of society and are increasingly becoming part of everyday life. The answer may lie in the “gamification” of conspiracy theories, in terms of which the principles that underlie the attraction of online gaming can be applied to the increased popularity of conspiracy theories.
The first and most obvious connection between online gaming and conspiracy theories is the manner in which they are distributed. Before the advent of the internet if you wished to spread a conspiracy theory you had to write a pamphlet or book, or call a meeting.
Mainstream media simply would not broadcast or publish anything that may have embarrassed them and invited ridicule from their competitors and scrutiny by their regulator. The internet changed all of that. Mainstream media now compete with millions of internet posts and websites, where conspiracy theories can be placed in the public domain without any need for fact checking and few consequences.
Online gaming and conspiracy theories both immerse the participants in an alternate reality. The reality we each experience is driven by how we perceive the world. A tree may objectively exist in space and time, but we may differ in how we experience it in terms of colour, smell and touch. Layered on top of our sensory perceptions are biases, which affect how we react to what we see. For example, confirmation bias eliminates anything that is contrary to our perception of reality.
The problem of reality becomes more acute when talk about ideas rather than physical objects. Ideas do not have a physical form on which all can agree, even if we differ in how we experience them. In the past our cultural and political views were reinforced through mainstream media outlets, on whom we relied to first check and then report the facts.
The advent of the internet has meant that anyone with access to social media can upload their views, no matter how at odds with others’ experience of the world. The guardrails that once tempered our adherence to conspiracy theories simply cannot keep up with the flood of information.
Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, reportedly said in 2018: “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.” That strategy worked. Many Trump supporters went to the polls in the recent US elections firmly believing that immigrants were murderers, rapists and were eating people’s pets, and that the so-called “deep state” was working against them.
Trump himself repeatedly characterises the mainstream media as “fake news”. The result is that we no longer have a shared reality against which we can measure the alternate realities of conspiracy theories.
Most online gaming is designed around uncovering secrets or clues, which allow the player to advance to the next level. The satisfaction that results from advancing to the next level results in the reward centre in the player’s brain releasing dopamine in response to this pleasurable experience or hyper-arousal.
Conspiracy theories operate on the same basis. In the case of Qanon, the internet was drip-fed clues or “drops” from a person or people calling themselves “Q”, and people were left to join the dots. One of these dots was that a “Q” clearance” is the highest security clearance level in the US government, leading people to believe that the information must be real.
Once the dots are joined by the adherent (usually reinforcing his or her biases) such as the belief in the existence of a “deep state”, the adherent can experience a similar dopamine hit from having uncovered the “truth” that fits in their alternate reality. The more people experience rewarded behaviour the more dopamine is released, and the more driven they are to seek out that same pleasure again and again.
Coupled with the satisfaction of uncovering the “truth” is the feeling of superiority over those who remain in the grip of “fake news”, the “false” reality. In the movie series The Matrix the main character, Neo, is offered the choice between a red pill and a blue pill by rebel leader Morpheus. If he takes the blue pill he will remain in the controlled state of the Matrix. But if he chooses the red pill he will emerge from a simulated world and uncover the truth about the Matrix. Those who do not believe in the conspiracy theory are placed firmly in the “blue pill” camp and mocked for not wanting to know the truth offered by the “red pill”.
Most online games cast the player or chosen character as the hero of the story, saving the world from evil. The same good versus evil approach is embedded in most conspiracy theories. Many of those who stormed the Capitol on January 6 2021, egged on by their president, believed that were saving America from a stolen election.
Finally, just like the developer of an online game those who promote conspiracy theories take pleasure from the number of adherents to what they espouse. Some of these are tech billionaires, who launched a campaign to push for one of their own to be included on the Trump ticket.
As a result, JD Vance will be the next US vice-president. He will be joined by anti-vaccine activist and serial conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jnr, who has been nominated to lead the US health & human services department, and Kash Patel, who openly praises Qanon and is Trump’s nominee for FBI director.
While there are many correlations between the psychology of online gaming and conspiracy theories, the one major difference is the most concerning — there is no “off” button for a conspiracy theory.
• Read is founder and CEO of legal and consulting business Read Advisory Services. This article is inspired by the BBC podcast series ‘The Coming Storm’ by Gabriel Gatehouse, author of ‘The Coming Storm: A Journey Into the Heart of the Conspiracy Machine’ .
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
SHAUN READ: Conspiracy theories — it’s all a game
The same good versus evil approach in online gaming is embedded in most conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theories have been around for centuries, yet events surrounding last year’s US election suggest that their popularity and influence have increased exponentially, to the extent that they may have influenced the election outcome. The question is why.
We must, of course, distinguish between real conspiracies and conspiracy theories. Real conspiracies tend to remain unknown until they are exposed by solid evidence, such as the Watergate scandal. On the other hand, conspiracy theories are openly discussed but lack credible evidence to support them.
Central to all conspiracy theories is the notion that there is a powerful and sinister group of people pursuing a secret goal. For example, a number of those who stormed the US Capitol building on January 6 2021 were adherents to the conspiracy theory touted by an anonymous individual or individuals known as “Q”.
The so-called Qanon conspiracy promotes the belief that a cabal of satanic, cannibalistic child molesters is operating a global child sex trafficking ring and conspiring against Donald Trump. The Washington Post recently reported that 25% of people surveyed after the January 6 event believed the FBI had secretly instigated the whole affair.
Other surveys have revealed that two-thirds of Republican voters (and nearly three out of 10 Americans) continue to believe that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and that Joe Biden was not lawfully elected.
Belief in conspiracy theories appears to be driven by social psychological motives aimed at understanding and being safe in one’s environment in the face of unexplained or misunderstood events. Peer pressure also plays a role, with people not wanting to be seen as differing from the opinions of the social circles in which they move.
Yet these motives do not adequately explain why conspiracy theories are no longer the domain of the fringes of society and are increasingly becoming part of everyday life. The answer may lie in the “gamification” of conspiracy theories, in terms of which the principles that underlie the attraction of online gaming can be applied to the increased popularity of conspiracy theories.
The first and most obvious connection between online gaming and conspiracy theories is the manner in which they are distributed. Before the advent of the internet if you wished to spread a conspiracy theory you had to write a pamphlet or book, or call a meeting.
Mainstream media simply would not broadcast or publish anything that may have embarrassed them and invited ridicule from their competitors and scrutiny by their regulator. The internet changed all of that. Mainstream media now compete with millions of internet posts and websites, where conspiracy theories can be placed in the public domain without any need for fact checking and few consequences.
Online gaming and conspiracy theories both immerse the participants in an alternate reality. The reality we each experience is driven by how we perceive the world. A tree may objectively exist in space and time, but we may differ in how we experience it in terms of colour, smell and touch. Layered on top of our sensory perceptions are biases, which affect how we react to what we see. For example, confirmation bias eliminates anything that is contrary to our perception of reality.
The problem of reality becomes more acute when talk about ideas rather than physical objects. Ideas do not have a physical form on which all can agree, even if we differ in how we experience them. In the past our cultural and political views were reinforced through mainstream media outlets, on whom we relied to first check and then report the facts.
The advent of the internet has meant that anyone with access to social media can upload their views, no matter how at odds with others’ experience of the world. The guardrails that once tempered our adherence to conspiracy theories simply cannot keep up with the flood of information.
Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, reportedly said in 2018: “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.” That strategy worked. Many Trump supporters went to the polls in the recent US elections firmly believing that immigrants were murderers, rapists and were eating people’s pets, and that the so-called “deep state” was working against them.
Trump himself repeatedly characterises the mainstream media as “fake news”. The result is that we no longer have a shared reality against which we can measure the alternate realities of conspiracy theories.
Most online gaming is designed around uncovering secrets or clues, which allow the player to advance to the next level. The satisfaction that results from advancing to the next level results in the reward centre in the player’s brain releasing dopamine in response to this pleasurable experience or hyper-arousal.
Conspiracy theories operate on the same basis. In the case of Qanon, the internet was drip-fed clues or “drops” from a person or people calling themselves “Q”, and people were left to join the dots. One of these dots was that a “Q” clearance” is the highest security clearance level in the US government, leading people to believe that the information must be real.
Once the dots are joined by the adherent (usually reinforcing his or her biases) such as the belief in the existence of a “deep state”, the adherent can experience a similar dopamine hit from having uncovered the “truth” that fits in their alternate reality. The more people experience rewarded behaviour the more dopamine is released, and the more driven they are to seek out that same pleasure again and again.
Coupled with the satisfaction of uncovering the “truth” is the feeling of superiority over those who remain in the grip of “fake news”, the “false” reality. In the movie series The Matrix the main character, Neo, is offered the choice between a red pill and a blue pill by rebel leader Morpheus. If he takes the blue pill he will remain in the controlled state of the Matrix. But if he chooses the red pill he will emerge from a simulated world and uncover the truth about the Matrix. Those who do not believe in the conspiracy theory are placed firmly in the “blue pill” camp and mocked for not wanting to know the truth offered by the “red pill”.
Most online games cast the player or chosen character as the hero of the story, saving the world from evil. The same good versus evil approach is embedded in most conspiracy theories. Many of those who stormed the Capitol on January 6 2021, egged on by their president, believed that were saving America from a stolen election.
Finally, just like the developer of an online game those who promote conspiracy theories take pleasure from the number of adherents to what they espouse. Some of these are tech billionaires, who launched a campaign to push for one of their own to be included on the Trump ticket.
As a result, JD Vance will be the next US vice-president. He will be joined by anti-vaccine activist and serial conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jnr, who has been nominated to lead the US health & human services department, and Kash Patel, who openly praises Qanon and is Trump’s nominee for FBI director.
While there are many correlations between the psychology of online gaming and conspiracy theories, the one major difference is the most concerning — there is no “off” button for a conspiracy theory.
• Read is founder and CEO of legal and consulting business Read Advisory Services. This article is inspired by the BBC podcast series ‘The Coming Storm’ by Gabriel Gatehouse, author of ‘The Coming Storm: A Journey Into the Heart of the Conspiracy Machine’ .
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