The added wrinkle to this is that the internet hides age....

So if you go to The_Donald, a bunch of the views expressed are just teenagers being awful (or normal teenagers basically), but the adults who line up with their views don't realize they how many of their peers are children.

It can definitely normalize that viewpoint and spread into the wider adult conversations. I also have noticed a few times on Reddit when someone says something insanely terrible, I will check their history to see if they are a White Nationalist or what else they are interested in, and dozens of times every post in their history is about video games. And the only time the venture out of the video game bubble it is with bizarrely hateful political commentary.

Maybe its an anomaly and if I clicked all the good posters history's they would be about video games too.... but it's starting to feel like there may be a genuine and unique culture developing around gaming that is distinctly racist, homophobic and celebrates almost any form of cruelty.

And I say that as someone who is in their 30's and still LOVES video games.

I don't think that changing the environment inherently reveals someone's "true" character. You're just revealing how they behave in that environment. We are just too complex to be reduced to such a simple experiment as "anonymity" to discover our true nature.

A facet of their character, expressed in a specific environment, is still a part of their character. Your behavior, wherever you are, is who you are.

This is exactly right.