Recently, Russia has been using video games to promote propaganda about the Russia-Ukraine war to justify the country’s reasons to invade Ukraine.
In Minecraft, a block game recently bought by Microsoft, Russian players reenacted the battle for Soledar, a Ukrainian town recently taken over by Russia, and posted a video of the gameplay on the country’s most popular social networking site, VKontakte.
In the Russian version of the game World of Tanks, a warfare game where players can choose to pilot tanks from World War II to the mid-20th century, a channel of the game celebrated the 78th anniversary of the Nazi’s defeat with a reconstruction of the Soviet Union’s parade of tanks in the city of Moscow in 1945.
These video games, as well as discussion apps like Discord and Steam, are slowly reinforcing Russian indoctrination, targeting newer, mostly younger people with waves of propaganda.
In the virtual world of video games, gamers started to frequently use the letter “Z”: the symbol of the Russian troops that invaded Ukraine last year. They have also repeated President Vladimir Putin’s words to compare Ukrainians with Nazis and blame America and Europe for the Ukrainian war.
A video tutorial said “Glory to Russia” while explaining how to construct a Russian flag with a flagpole in Minecraft. The video showed a Russian flag flying over Luhansk, a Ukrainian territory that Russia illegally occupied.
“The gaming world is really a platform that can impact public opinion, to reach an audience, especially young populations,” said Tanya Bekker, a researcher at ActiveFence, a business detecting Russian propaganda in Minecraft.
Microsoft president Brad Smith said in April the company’s security teams found recent Russian attempts “basically to penetrate some of these gaming communities.”
“In truth, it’s not the No. 1 thing we should worry about,” Smith said at a conference in Washington. “They are going to publish information somewhere. You know, it just happens to be a good place for them to get the information into circulation.”
This month, Putin has recognized the Kremlin’s eagerness in the gaming industry to implant Russian propaganda into young minds. He called it a “colossal business,” referring to an organization he founded in 2018 focusing on youth social and economic problems. He said that games “should be at the intersection of art and education.”
“A game should help a person develop, help him find himself, should help educate a person both within the framework of universal human values and within the framework of patriotism,” Mr. Putin said.
In an article for the Business Insider, Hannah Getahun wrote, “Other games that have been used to promote Russian interests include Russia’s version of World of Tanks and World of Warships, Fly Corp, Armored Warfare, and War Thunder, researchers at Molfar, a Ukrainian open-source analytical company, told the Times.”
However, Russia is not the only country to use video games to spread their influence. In 2020, the US Army numbers were dwindling, so they used video games and forums to help recruit. They said “[Gaming would] build awareness of skills that can be used as professional soldiers and use [its] gaming knowledge to be more relatable to youth.”
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Microsoft has declared they would stop selling their products and services to Russia in an effort to comply with America and Europe’s sanctions. Russia continues to find ways to use games and apps like Discord and Steam to reach a larger audience. Much of the propaganda is in Russian, suggesting that the intended audience is in Russia or in Russian-speaking countries, like Ukraine.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/30/technology/russia-propaganda-video-games.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/roblox-minecraft-being-used-to-spread-russian-propoganda-2023-7
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/russia-using-minecraft-world-of-tanks-other-video-games-as-propaganda-weapon-heres-what-report-claims/articleshow/102253154.cms
In Minecraft, a block game recently bought by Microsoft, Russian players reenacted the battle for Soledar, a Ukrainian town recently taken over by Russia, and posted a video of the gameplay on the country’s most popular social networking site, VKontakte.
In the Russian version of the game World of Tanks, a warfare game where players can choose to pilot tanks from World War II to the mid-20th century, a channel of the game celebrated the 78th anniversary of the Nazi’s defeat with a reconstruction of the Soviet Union’s parade of tanks in the city of Moscow in 1945.
These video games, as well as discussion apps like Discord and Steam, are slowly reinforcing Russian indoctrination, targeting newer, mostly younger people with waves of propaganda.
In the virtual world of video games, gamers started to frequently use the letter “Z”: the symbol of the Russian troops that invaded Ukraine last year. They have also repeated President Vladimir Putin’s words to compare Ukrainians with Nazis and blame America and Europe for the Ukrainian war.
A video tutorial said “Glory to Russia” while explaining how to construct a Russian flag with a flagpole in Minecraft. The video showed a Russian flag flying over Luhansk, a Ukrainian territory that Russia illegally occupied.
“The gaming world is really a platform that can impact public opinion, to reach an audience, especially young populations,” said Tanya Bekker, a researcher at ActiveFence, a business detecting Russian propaganda in Minecraft.
Microsoft president Brad Smith said in April the company’s security teams found recent Russian attempts “basically to penetrate some of these gaming communities.”
“In truth, it’s not the No. 1 thing we should worry about,” Smith said at a conference in Washington. “They are going to publish information somewhere. You know, it just happens to be a good place for them to get the information into circulation.”
This month, Putin has recognized the Kremlin’s eagerness in the gaming industry to implant Russian propaganda into young minds. He called it a “colossal business,” referring to an organization he founded in 2018 focusing on youth social and economic problems. He said that games “should be at the intersection of art and education.”
“A game should help a person develop, help him find himself, should help educate a person both within the framework of universal human values and within the framework of patriotism,” Mr. Putin said.
In an article for the Business Insider, Hannah Getahun wrote, “Other games that have been used to promote Russian interests include Russia’s version of World of Tanks and World of Warships, Fly Corp, Armored Warfare, and War Thunder, researchers at Molfar, a Ukrainian open-source analytical company, told the Times.”
However, Russia is not the only country to use video games to spread their influence. In 2020, the US Army numbers were dwindling, so they used video games and forums to help recruit. They said “[Gaming would] build awareness of skills that can be used as professional soldiers and use [its] gaming knowledge to be more relatable to youth.”
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Microsoft has declared they would stop selling their products and services to Russia in an effort to comply with America and Europe’s sanctions. Russia continues to find ways to use games and apps like Discord and Steam to reach a larger audience. Much of the propaganda is in Russian, suggesting that the intended audience is in Russia or in Russian-speaking countries, like Ukraine.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/30/technology/russia-propaganda-video-games.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/roblox-minecraft-being-used-to-spread-russian-propoganda-2023-7
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/russia-using-minecraft-world-of-tanks-other-video-games-as-propaganda-weapon-heres-what-report-claims/articleshow/102253154.cms