The War as a game: strategic ‘gamification’ incontemporary armed conflicts
Keywords:
Digital propaganda, jihadism, Organized Crime, Videogames, UkraineAbstract
This article examines how various armed actors apply video game design logics—gamification—in contemporary armed conflicts. It identifies the forms, functions, and strategic objectives of these practices and evaluates their operational, psychological, and communicative effects on combatants and civilian audiences. Through three case studies (the Russo‑Ukrainian war, jihadist extremism, and Latin American organized crime), the study shows that gamification acts as a strategic force multiplier in modern warfare, enhancing propaganda and recruitment by framing conflict as a «game». Each case exhibits a different level of gamification (formalized in Ukraine, symbolic in jihadism, and informal in organized crime), and gamification is found to transnationalize war narratives, trivializing violence and particularly attracting younger audiences.
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