Combining research, gaming and youth work to counter online abuse among youth in Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden
The Game Changer is an international collaboration between partners in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, including the E-sports Federation of Iceland (RÍSÍ), the Swedish gaming organisation SVEROK, the award-winning Finnish youth work Sua Varten Somessa, the Violence Prevention School of Iceland (Ofsi), Digitalt Ansvar in Denmark, Center for Digital Pædagogik, SEUL in Finland and the Nordic Digital Rights and Equality Foundation (NORDREF). The project is rooted in research conducted by NORDREF into the perpetrators of online abuse against women and girls in the Nordic region. It revealed that men under the age of 30 are overrepresented among perpetrators of gender-based online abuse. As a result, the Game Changer is creating evidence-based tools, campaigns and initiatives to counter abuse in online spaces with a special focus on reaching young men using the fun methods of gaming and digital youth work. The overall aim of the project is to strengthen young people's digital rights and cyber citizenship using methods of gaming, community-building and social entrepreneurship.
The Game Changer has two phases, the former of which started in September 2023 and lasted through October 2024, the results of which are detailed below. Game Changer 2.0 followed immediately (2024-2026), with the aim of establishing Digital Youth Embassies in Denmark, Finland and Iceland where young people will ensure an idea-exchange about best practices and solutions to the mutual challenges all countries face on the internet. Moreover, the Nordic Navigator of All Things Gender and Communication is being built, pulling together resources and initiatives from all over the Nordic region to create the most comprehensive database to date on how to build an internet culture worthy of its netizens.
This project is funded by the Erasmus+ program.
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Youth seminars
Seminars to empower youth to become co-creators of their own digital reality were hosted in Sweden, Iceland and Finland, focusing on tech solutions for protection, hiding parts of who you are online and how to help make your online spaces safe for others.
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This interactive tool harnesses the fun and engaging methods of gaming to chat with young people about nude photos, helping them "level up their sexting game" by underlining the importance (and hotness!) of consent and respecting boundaries. The Eggplant Bot is easily distributed on Discord and speaks English, Swedish, Finnish and Icelandic.
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Finding the right words to start a conversation about harassment, deep-fakes, sexism and other forms of online abuse can be a challenge – which is why the Game Changer created chat-fictions to break the ice and hold space for these important topics.
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People seeking to host tournaments and other gaming activities online are key players when it comes to standard setting and cultivating healthy mindsets among youth, thus preventing abusive behavior and inequality. The Organizer Handbook empowers them in that role.
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A game-changing conference was held in Gothenburg University in October 2024, marking the one year anniversary of the Game Changer, with representatives from Meta, TikTok and other major stakeholders discussing ways to improve young people's digital reality.
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This research maps the changes that young people in the Nordic region deem necessary for them to reach their highest potential - and helps them envision it.
