Video Gaming: Is it an Incel’s Game now?

Playing video games has long since been targeted towards young men. “Kill-or-be-killed” AAA titles are often designed to cater to male power fantasies and competitiveness, encouraging droves of young male gamers to normalise very descriptive media violence and immoral decisions whilst playing. Research indicates a link between video gaming culture and the “incel” (involuntary celibate) subculture, primarily because of shared online spaces and the misogyny which can stem from it. From the outside, it looks like video gaming has become a strictly male - and often sexist - environment. But is this all it has to be? How can we turn the world of video games back into something that is open and welcome to everyone?

It is an unfortunate truth that video gaming is often grounds for targeting socially isolated young men for radicalisation. However, playing video games does not make someone an incel immediately, and efforts to try and combat “incel” culture within video games have intensified in the last few years. AI-driven moderation and legal pressures targeting toxicity online have both done their part in making video games more accessible - but is it enough? Despite the gaming industry focusing on “anti-hate-by-design” strategies to decrease “incel” behaviour in online communities, reports of harassment online based on gender (often linked to gaming spaces) jumped from 20 to 33 percent between 2017 and 2020 and continues to climb. 

But there is still hope. Women make up to 46 percent of gamers worldwide, and continue to play video games despite growing “incel” culture. Female-catered video games such as Life is Strange, Gone Home, The Last of Us and Tomb Raider are all popular with the female gaming community. Strong female protagonists, who aren’t sexualised, are opening doors for women to play and enjoy video games like their male counterparts. Women have been vital to video game development since the 1970s, now making up roughly 32 percent of developers. With more women involved in both playing and making video games, the gaming community is becoming more than just young men being hurtful online. 

While “incel” subculture is predicted to range from thousands to hundreds of thousands globally, there were 3.32 billion active video gamers worldwide as of 2024. Although “incel” reputation has become prevalent in the past few years, it’s easy to think that everyone who games is affected by it. But gaming has always been a positive way to offer cognitive, emotional, and social benefits when played in moderation, and even fostering social connections if used correctly. It’s important that we continue to see gaming that way, rather than the negative impact the media is obsessed with reporting on. “Incel” culture needs to be stopped - but that doesn't mean the gaming community needs to go down with it.