NSA Video Games Paper - American Civil Liberties Union

Games: A Look at Emerging Trends, Uses, Threats and Opportunities in Influence Activities
Chapter Introduction
Games can serve sophisticated purposes beyond entertainment, providing terrorist
organizations with a powe~ful medium analogous to the internet to support its
operational objectives. Games have already been exploited by terrorist extremists and
sympathizers. Emerging trends within the game space suggest greater opportunities will
exist for future exploitation enhancing a range o-Dterrorist operations, from supporting
strategic propaganda and influence activities, to more highly instrumental uses such as
communication, fundraising and recruitment."x Such activities warrant concern given the
increasing popularity o£ gaming which seems to be transcending age, gender and cultural
boundaries.
Potential Uses of Games for Terrorist Activities
• Propaganda and Influence- Terrorists and sympathizers use games to twist historical
context, demonize enemies, disrupt the social moral compass, and propagate ideology.
• Communications - Games provide attractive communications channels for terrorist groups
and sympathizers because in-game conversations often are difficult to monitor.
• Recruiting- Online gaming can serve as a recruiting tool. For example, the United States
Army found that 28% of players logging on to play its America's Army online game also
visited the corresponding recruitment site.
• Simulation, Practice and Team Management - Games can supplement field training by
familiarizing recruits with the tactics, weaponry, and skills needed to conduct operations
and planning.
• Money Laundering and Fundraising- Funds used in online games can be uploaded in one
location and downloaded in another by using a single avatar to which multiple people have
access via ID and password. Alternately, virtual "sweat shops" can be organized to
Several plausible scenarios exist where terrorist organizations could leverage the
power of" the gaming medium to achieve operational goals with minimal training and
expertise. This paper will outline the current capabilities and potential scenarios by game
genre demonstrating how a terrorist organization might exploit the game space. The
extent to which games can be used by terrorist groups to supplement their other activities
depends on a variety o£ factors, to include:
• Internet connectivity of game users
• Cost and availability of hardware and/or software required to play game
• Level and kind of interaction between players that the game allows
• Ease of use of game
• Degree of game skills transferability to real-world activity
• Degree of realism in game design (such as graphics and programming sophistication)
• Barriers to game production
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