Lars Wiegold and Constantin Winkler jointly delivered a presentation on the topic “Between Play and Ideology: Radicalisation in Digital Gaming Communities” at the international conference “Radicalisation of Young People in Slovakia 3.0”, organised by the Counter-Terrorism Unit of the Slovak Police, the Orange Foundation and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
29.04.2026 – German Computer Game Award 2026
RadiGaMe has won the 2026 German Computer Game Award in the ‘Jury’s Special Prize’ category. At the gala ceremony in Munich, Constantin Winkler and Matthias Heider accepted the award on behalf of the consortium. The jury explained its decision as follows: RadiGaMe brings together people who would otherwise have little to do with one another professionally. People from security agencies, academia and the gaming industry come together within the framework of this collaborative project to discuss issues relating to terrorism, radicalisation and extremism. However, RadiGaMe never loses sight of the fact that gaming and the communities surrounding it are real-life worlds that matter to people, and it never demonises them. With this interdisciplinary approach, RadiGaMe is not only successful but also unique in Germany, and we, as the DCP Jury, consider this to be highly necessary and therefore worthy of an award.
20.04.2026 – RadiGaMe Transfer Conference
Our RadiGaMe transfer conference took place in Berlin under the title ‘Radicalisation on gaming platforms and messenger services: Dynamics | Prevention | Law enforcement’ (programme – in German).
Programme RadiGaMe Transfer Conference (in German)
21.11.2025 – TINCON Dresden.
Matthias Heider gave a talk at the first TINCON conference in Dresden (in German).
19.09.2025 – Game over? Right-wing extremism in gaming – Online symposium (in German) organised by the Federal Agency for Civic Education.
As part of the symposium, Dr Linda Schlegel gave the keynote speech, followed by a Q&A session, and participated in a panel discussion.
27.05.2025 - TINCON Berlin
As part of the TINCON conference for youth and young adults, Matthias Heider gave a talk titled ‘They just want to play... - How right-wing extremists infiltrate your favourite games’ (YouTube).
05.12.2024 - Jugendforum: Real Talk
In Jena, Matthias Heider entered into a dialogue with teenagers and young adults on the topic of democracy and gaming.
29.11.2024 - 15. KMK / BMZ-Symposium on the Global Development Framework
Under the title ‘Global. Digital. Radikal - Was tun gegen Demokratiefeindlichkeit und Hass im Netz?’ Matthias Heider presented current research results to educators from all over Germany.
20.11.2024 - RadiGaMe practice workshop
The 2nd RadiGaMe practice workshop, organised by IDZ-Jena, took place on 20.11.2024. Exchange formats were developed with experts from civil society, security authorities and the games industry, which will be tested during the project period.
A summary of the practical workshop from 20.11.2024 is available here (in German).
The RadiGaMe research alliance met in Berlin to discuss progress and exchange new ideas.
16.11.2024 - PLAY Creative Gaming Festival 2024
Constantin Winkler spoke about ‘Games and empowerment - how games make us stronger’ as part of a panel discussion at the PLAY - Creative Gaming Festival (YouTube).
14.11.2024 - streetwork@online Symposium
Lars Wiegold gave a presentation at the streetwork@online symposium ‘Unterwegs auf digitalen Straßen: Methods and perspectives of online extremism prevention’, Lars Wiegold gave a presentation followed by a discussion on the topic ’Prevention and gaming - a mismatch? Challenges and potentials of gaming spheres for prevention actors’.
07.11.2024 - Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung
Judith Jaskowski gave an overview of our project as part of the ‘Masterclass Game Development - Recognising right-wing extremism, countering misanthropy’.
06.11.2024 - Wi-Rex transfer conference
At the transfer conference of the Wi-Rex project in Erfurt, Matthias Heider spoke about knowledge transfer between research and practitioners using the RadiGaMe project as an example.
31.10.2024 - Hedayah Research Conference & Communications Expo 2024
Lars Wiegold and Constantin Winkler represented the RadiGaMe Research Alliance on a panel at the Hedayah Research Conference & Communications Expo 2024 on the topic of ‘Streaming, Chatting, Modding: The Use of Gaming-Adjacent Communication and Platforms by Extremist Actors’. You can find a recording here.
09.10.2024 - Pixel, Hass und Extremismus – Was tun gegen Demokratiefeindlichkeit im Gaming?
A panel discussion with this title took place in the German National Theater Weimar. The latest findings on how extremist and anti-democratic groups infiltrate gaming spaces and use them to spread their ideologies was discussed. The recording is available here (in German).
23.08.2024 - RadiGaMe at gamescom 2024
The RadiGaMe Research Alliance was a guest at a panel discussion of the Jugendforum NRW at gamescom. Here we talked about radicalization in gaming and countermeasures (YouTube – Min. 4:29–55:46).
The first RadiGaMe knowledge transfer workshop took place on 14 May 2024 in collaboration with the Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET).
A summary of the GNET Webinar (14.05.2024) is available here.
13.08.2024 - ECPR General Conference 2024
Maik Fielitz and Matthias Heider presented first results from the Jena branch of the RadiGaMe Research Alliance in the lecture ‘The contentious knowledge production on online extremism and its prevention’.
27.05. - 20.05.2024 - Re:Publica
Together with the RadiGaMe partner Amadeu Antonio Foundation, the RadiGaMe network was represented at Re:Publica 2024. Matthias Heider spoke with several experts on site about gaming and extremism. The discussions was streamed live on the foundation's channels.
07.03.2024 - 08.03.2024 - MOTRA-K
The first exploration results of the RadiGaMe network were presented.
16.02.2024 - BpB ‘Masterclass Game Development’
Matthias Heider spoke at the masterclass organised by the Federal Agency for Civic Education on far-right communication strategies on gaming platforms. The event was aimed at young game developers.
13.02.2024 - Roundtable Gaming for Democracy
Matthias Heider represented the RadiGaMe network at the ‘Gaming for Democracy’ roundtable organised by the Bertelsmann Stiftung and Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur, at which the potential of games for political education was discussed.
18.01.2024 - 19.01.2024 - RadiGaMe practice workshops
The first practice workshops were scheduled. modus | zad kicked things off on 18 January 2024 with two workshops aimed specifically at security authorities. This was followed on 19 January 2024 by a workshop organised by the Jena Institute for Democracy and Civil Society.
A summary of the workshop (18 January 2024) is available here [in German].
A summary of the workshop (19 January 2024) is available here [in German].
The RadiGaMe alliance met in Munich for an initial results-orientated discussion.
20.11 - 21.11.2023 - Democracy Summit of the Federal Government of Germany
As part of the Federal Government's Democracy Summit, Matthias Heider gave a talk titled ‘Demokratiegefährdung Online? Radicalisation on gaming platforms - what to do?’ on extremist dangers on gaming platforms and possible prevention strategies. RadiGaMe was also presented at the IDZ-Jena stand as part of the Market of Opportunities.
18.10.2023 - Roundtable Gaming for Democracy
Matthias Heider represented the RadiGaMe Ressearch Alliance at the first ‘Gaming for Democracy’ roundtable organised by the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur, which aims to bring together representatives from academia, the games industry, civil society and ministries.
28.09.2023 - StartPlay conference
Matthias Heider presented the RadiGaMe Research Alliance at a poster session in Solingen.
23.08. - 25.08.2023 - Gamescom 2023
RadiGaMe was represented at the stand of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation at Gamescom 2023 and presented the research project to interested visitors.
