Interesting story about Ark – I started playing that game when it came out, and I was alone and had no friends there. I met a really nice group of guys that recruited me and let me join their clan. They would recruit other ‘lost soul’ types and give them a group to belong to that was well-organized and successful.
Every now and then a member would say something a bit off-color, and I would just chalk it up to the usual internet racism. After I while I joined their Teamspeak and noticed that people would post racist memes occasionally, and swastikas could be seen in some member’s avatars.
After asking around I confirmed that this was a gaming wing of a white supremacist group. Their recruiting strategy focused on lonely male gamer types who were trying to belong to something.
That’s when my time on Ark came to a close!