The Gaming Connection: The Role of Online Culture in Charlie Kirk’s Assassination

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, a national dialogue emerged over what contributed to Kirk’s alleged murderer, Tyler Robinson, resorting to violence. Debate has raged over his motivations, political allegiance, and his tie to gender ideology. While the FBI investigates further, one topic of discussion has been Robinson’s involvement online. Already, the investigation has unearthed some indicators as to the level of Robinson’s online presence.

Multiple friends of Robinson described him as “terminally online.” The bullet casings used by Robinson were each inscribed with messages containing numerous online and gaming references. The bullet that struck and killed Kirk read, “Notices, bulges, OwO what’s this?,” which comes from a meme commonly used by members of an online subculture known as “furries.” These “furries” are obsessed with anthropomorphic animal characters, or animals with human characteristics. Another of the inscriptions read, “If you read this, you are gay, LMAO,” which may derive from common online “trash talk” or “troll behavior.” 

Two of the messages specifically related to the world of gaming, with one reading, “Oh, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, Ciao,” which comes from an Italian folk song commonly used by “anti-fascists,” but it’s also referenced in the video game “Far Cry 6.” One bullet held another gaming reference, saying, “Hey fascist catch,” followed by a series of arrows with one arrow pointing up, one pointing right, and three pointing down. The message seemingly comes from the video game “Helldivers 2” where the user plays as a type of “fascist” in space to enforce “managed democracy” in the galaxy. The arrows correlate with a control input combination meant to call in an airstrike.

Robinson also allegedly confessed his guilt in a chat thread via a common messaging platform among gamers called Discord. When Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., observed the thread contained as many as 20 users, FBI Director Kash Patel noted that the chat included “a lot more than that.” 

Given Robinson’s gaming references and online presence, many are reviving the debate as to how video games may affect their users, and whether they stoke proclivities toward violence. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins pointed out that online gaming has coincided with “real world violence” before, while positing the question, “Is there a connection or is it just coincidence?” 

Reagan Rose, founder of the media ministry Redeeming Productivity, warned of the potential dangers of today’s gaming culture in radicalizing the younger generation when he joined Thursday’s “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins.” Rose pointed out that even the military has seen an advantage to utilizing video games for the purposes of training. Rose said, “I think most of us know that they would use flight simulators for those types of things, but even first-person shooter type games they’ve been using as far back as the 90s.” Rose described a game called “Doom 2” which the Marines “would train scenarios” with. He continued, “They’ve been doing that ever since. Even in the early 2000s, the Army put out their own game, ‘America’s Army,’ which they used for training, and they actually put it out to the public and used it for recruitment as well.” 

“Some of these games are not harmless,” Perkins contended. “There is a desensitizing that takes place in these games.” 

Amid the conversations surrounding gaming chat rooms, Rose pointed out that both American and British intelligence had programs looking into communications via these platforms. He said, “I think the idea was that the people were taking advantage of these non-traditional communication platforms to almost hide in plain sight, recruit, [and] plan terrorist activity or otherwise nefarious things. The military realized there was this whole area that they weren’t paying attention to.”

Perkins asked Rose, “How deeply does it appear that this Tyler was involved in the gaming world?”

Rose noted he was a “highly online person,” citing Robinson’s references on the bullets, knowledge of memes, and his use of Discord. “That platform for chat is very popular in the gaming community, and some of those corners of the internet can get quite dark. I know from my own experience being very deep in the gaming world myself, there’s a lot of conversations [and] a lot of attempts to be edgy. A lot of the things that are on the fringes of society are discussed there more openly,” Rose said. He added, “I think a lot of anti-social tendencies are cultivated in the gaming world that people that are outside of that world don’t realize just how dark it can be.”

Rose mentioned that the conversation surrounding video games contributing to violent tendencies in young people is rekindled often after mass shootings, and yet, “The American Psychological Association has come out twice saying that they don’t see a causal relationship between video game violence and real-world violence.” In response, Perkins pointed out that if the military believes it will improve their performance, “how is it not affecting young people?” 

Rose agreed, saying, “I think that the connection is closer than most people are willing to look at. … It’s desensitizing and it’s tremendously anti-socializing as well, if you get very deep into these gaming communities.” 

Rose described video games as one layer deeper than the desensitization that comes from simply viewing violent media. “The immersiveness and the fact that it’s you carrying out those things, it’s not you as an observer, it’s you acting it out, I think, is a level of participation in the violence that is even more desensitizing,” he added.

Perkins asked Rose what parents should be looking for in their children playing video games. Rose advised parents to monitor the amount of time their children are permitted to play. He also warned they should “pay close attention to the content of the games. Some of the games that are out there are horrific.” He added that when taking games away from their kids, parents should gauge their reaction, which “can be a warning sign that you should pay attention to.”

As for the spiritual element, Rose said, “I think that there really is a demonic element to it. … I’m not trying to say that all video games are evil or [that] no one should play them, but I think we need to be much more cautious than we are.”

Originally published by The Washington Stand.

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