Cybercrime's tendencies of the teenagers in the COVID-19 era: assessing the influence of mobile games, social networks and religious attitudes

PurposeThe teenager community is the most affected community by cybercrime in the COVID-19 era. Increasing social networks and facilitating teenager access to the Internet have increased the probability of cybercrimes. On the other hand, entertainment such as mobile and computer games is top-rated among teenagers. Teenagers' tendency to cybercrime may be influenced by individual, parent, social, economic and political factors. Studying the impact of social networks, mobile games and parents' religious attitudes on teenagers' tendency to cybercrimes in the COVID-19 era is the primary goal of this paper.Design/methodology/approachThe outbreak of COVID-19 caused a considerable change in the world and the lifestyle of all people. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was also affected by the special conditions of this virus. Changes in ICT and rapid access to it have empowered individuals and organizations, and people have increased civic participation and interaction through ICT. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 has created new challenges for the government and citizens and may cause new crimes. Cybercrime is a type of crime that occurs in a cyber environment. These crimes range from invasions of privacy to crimes in which the offender vaguely paralyzes the macroeconomic. In this research, 265 students of high schools and universities are used for collecting data by utilizing a survey. Measuring actions have been done in all surveys employing a Likert scale. The causal pattern is assessed through a constructional equation modeling procedure to study the scheme's validity and reliability.FindingsThe outcomes have indicated that social networks have no significant relationship with teenagers' tendency to cybercrimes in the COVID-19 era. Mobile games have a mild effect on teenagers' tendency to cybercrimes in the COVID-19 era, and parents' religious attitudes significantly impact teenagers' tendency to cybercrimes in the COVID-19 era.Research limitations/implicationsCurrent research also has some restrictions that must be noticed in assessing the outcomes. First, sample research was selected from high schools and universities in one city. So, the size of the model is small, and the generalization of results is limited. Second, this research may have ignored other variables that affect the tendency of teenagers' to cybercrime. Future researchers intend to investigate the parents' upbringing system's impact on teenager's trend to cybercrime in the COVID-19 era. Future research can also examine practical factors such as parental upbringing, attitudes toward technology development and virtual addiction in the COVID-19 era.Originality/valueIn this study, teenagers' tendency to cybercrimes in the COVID-19 era is investigated, and a procedure is applied depending on a practical occasion. This article's offered sample provides a perfect framework for influencing parents' social networks, mobile games and religious attitudes on teenagers' tendency to cybercrimes in the COVID-19 era.

“American Wise Men Discover the Secret of Religion”: Religious Content in the Civilization Computer Game Series

The Civilization series of computer games (1991–) is one of the most popular and influential series in the history of computer gaming. The game’s impact and exposure indicate that its treatment of religion is therefore significant. Throughout the Civilization series, religion has been a part of the game. However, the role that religion played and the underlying models of religion represented in the game have changed over time. This article considers how the treatment of religion in the Civilization series has developed, what this reveals about the game designers’ assumptions, and what implicit lessons about religion it teaches players.

Factors That Enable or Hinder the Implementation of Game Development Activity in Learning Environments

This study aims to investigate the factors that enable or hinder the implementation of game development activity in the instructional process. One instructor and 15 gifted students between the ages of 11 and 15 took part in the study. The students developed computer games related to science topics using MS Kodu game engine within the implementation process. According to the findings, it is seen that instructional practices have great importance, and the instructor plays a key role in the activity. Making and playing games have been the greatest motivation resource for students. In addition, the social environment can be an important tool in sustaining students' motivation levels. The students' negative attitudes toward educational game topics and non-computer activities hinder the successful implementation of the activity. The MS Kodu game engine might be appropriate for novice designers but not be enough for teaching programming concepts. Team-based game development activity is believed to be useful for developing advanced games and increasing the level of interaction between students.

Internet Addiction as a Behavioral Addiction

Taking into consideration the gradually widespread use of the internet, children are thought to be an important group both in terms of the time they spend on the internet and the dangers they will be exposed to in the virtual world. Internet addiction is essentially a type of behavioral addiction, characterized by a certain behavioral pattern, which is confronted with both physical, psychological, and social consequences. The research aims to establish a correlation between children's addiction to computer games with the cyber violence that they may be exposed to base on this addiction. For this reason, this study is a systematic review that aims to examine the effects of computer addiction as a subtype of internet addiction, which is a type of behavioral addiction, on children and its relationship with cyber violence. The research significantly contributes to the literature by revealing the effects of COVID-19 on children's addiction to computer games and the correlation of children's addiction to computer games with cyber violence.

Gamification of Formative Feedback in Language Arts and Mathematics Classrooms

The use of computer games in education has been increasing in popularity during the past decade. Game-based learning environments are designed to teach specific knowledge content and skill-based learning outcomes using game elements. One main reason for using game-based learning environments is to increase student motivation and engagement while teaching learning outcomes. Many of the game-based learning environments are designed so that students will reach maximum flow, which is defined as students being so completely immersed in that game that they do not notice that they are learning. These learning environments have been shown to improve many behaviour and cognitive learning outcomes. While game-based learning has many benefits, some educational researchers have indicated that it is often very costly to develop a complex game-based assessment to teach a few learning outcomes. Hence, in some cases it is more beneficial to approach the use of computer games in education using gamification.

Educational Computer Games in Math Teaching

In this study, the effect of educational computer games on students' academic success and their attitudes towards mathematics were investigated. The study was designed as a mixed method. The results revealed that after the implementation, no significant variation was observed between both groups in terms of academic test scores and attitude points. However, qualitative findings indicated that students in the experimental group got more pleasure from the lessons and their attitudes towards mathematics were positively affected. Also, educational computer games are effective learning tools and create a positive affirmation on students. Although this study was conducted in the face to face classrooms, the findings would be transferred to other learning settings such as distance and online education. Therefore, the experience obtained from such technologically enriched learning environments is discussed in the context of distance and online learning.

Feasibility and Acceptability of ‘VitaVillage’: A Serious Game for Nutrition Education

Computer games have previously been used to improve nutrition knowledge in children. This paper describes the acceptability and feasibility of a serious game, “VitaVillage”, for improving child nutrition knowledge. VitaVillage is a farming-style game in which the player undertakes quests and completes questions aimed at increasing several aspects of nutrition and healthy eating knowledge. Children aged 9–12 years in two primary schools (control vs. intervention) completed a nutrition knowledge questionnaire at baseline (T1) and after 1 week (T2). Participants at the intervention school (n = 75) played VitaVillage for 20 minutes on two occasions. Control participants (n = 94) received no nutrition education. Likeability question scores and written feedback from intervention participants was reported qualitatively. Paired sample t-tests were used to compare T1 and T2 nutrition knowledge changes between control and intervention participants. Engagement with VitaVillage improved children’s overall nutrition knowledge (Mean increase of 2.25 points between T1 and T2, Standard Deviation (SD) 6.31, p = 0.035) compared to controls. The game was liked overall (mean score 77 (SD 24.6) on scale of 0–100) and positive feedback was given. Results indicate that VitaVillage has the potential to be successful as a nutrition education tool. In the future, VitaVillage’s content and gameplay will be revised, extended and evaluated for its long-term impact on eating behaviour and knowledge changes.

USES OF 3D MODELING TECHNIQUES IN THE DIGITAL ARTS

With the rapid advances in visual perception and processing technologies, it has become easier to create 3D models (three dimensional visuals that have width height and depth data) of objects by processing 2D (two dimensional images that have width and height data like photography) images obtained from real life with the help of certain algorithms. These systems, which convert from two-dimensional painting to three-dimensional model format, now describe and translate most objects correctly. Like photogrametry and laser scanning, is used to quickly transfer large areas to 3D media, especially with coating materials. 3D images obtained by scanning 2D images show differences in terms of the obtained model quality and polygon density. This system, which serves to obtain very fast 3D models, is frequently used in computer games development, digital art and production / cinema studies, painting, sculpting, ceramic and photography to obtain a spesific result. In the research, image-based 3D model creation technologies were mentioned. The types of this technology and its usage purposes, methods and problems are the topics of this article Also problems faced while engaging the models accured from this methods to other platforms are included in the article. In this context, the aim of the study is to recognize the new scanning modeling processes and algorithms supported by artificial intelligence and to determine the usage areas of these modeling techniques in art. Keywords: Art, 3D Model, A.I., LIDAR, Photogrametry, Digital Art

The Implementation of Artificial Intelligence in STEM-Based Creative Learning in the Society 5.0 Era

This research aimed at utilizing artificial intelligence in STEM-based creative learning in the society 5.0 era. The researchers investigated how an educator can utilize artificial intelligence and optimize it into a STEM-based learning process. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. The United States initiated it to combine the four disciplines integrated into a problem-based learning method and everyday contextual events. Artificial intelligence is an intelligence added to a system managed in a scientific context. Artificial intelligence is created and put into a machine (computer) to do work like humans. Several fields that use artificial intelligence include expert systems, computer games (games), fuzzy logic, artificial neural networks, and robotics. The researchers employed the literature review or library research by reviewing the results of various studies and collecting data from assorted references and sources. In conclusion, implementing artificial intelligence in STEM-based creative learning can be an alternative for an educator in the learning process. Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to help educators in the creative learning process by implementing long-life education and showing behavioral changes in a better direction cognitively, affectively, and psychometrically, especially in the era of society 5.0.