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COVID-19 affected our lives intensly. That state of affairs made humans helpless. They had been depressed and experienced loneliness. At that time many human beings were determined to play video games just to loosen up their minds. Many games changed into an additional source of revenue wherein during COVID-19 they were playing while earning money. With these advantages, there were also some poor effects was accrued. A number of players remained playing video games post COVID-19. The carried out survey is based on the social video games results on players' well-being and additionally on the effects of gamers' health and their sensible lifestyles. We are going to investigate the behavior of gamers engaged with video games during the COVID-19 lockdown and the video games affects on their well-being, the time they served in playing video games, and the consequential effect on their behavior and social and mental well-being. The results provide a start line for empirically grounded discussions on video games at some stage in the pandemic, their use, and potential outcomes. Different agegroups of players have been investigated. Most players are between 18 and 30 years. A number of the gamers during lock down played a few hours but most of players were males who spent most of their day playing video games. However, now the ratio of playing video games is reduced as examined with past circumstances. Roughly we can say that the condition as a whole is better, the reason why players enforced video games in their post COVID-19 practical life1. © 2023 IEEE.
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After the epidemic of COVID-19 has been basically under control interiorly, China is under the situation of regular epidemic prevention and control. Hence a reflection on the problems about the risk of gaming disorder in the epidemic period can be helpful to mental health professionals who prevent and control gaming disorder. The authors clarified the improper publicity of the gaming industry and false media report, and also reviewed the trend of game using was rapidly rising and game market was rapidly expanding. Consequently, as the author addressed, the health risks due to excessive gaming patterns were increasing. This review also pointed out and analyzed some new trend of the expansion of female game users during the epidemic, and the further in-depth integration of games and gambling. Finally, some advice was provided to the mental health workers to cope with the increasing risk of gaming disorder during a post-epidemic era.Copyright © Chinese Journal of Psychiatry 2021.
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The FitPed Project focuses on students' efforts to acquire programming skills in order to become up-to-date professionals and become better life-long learners as well. The current chapter sketches the larger spectrum of learning/teaching paradigms in order to enable more flexible and effective didactic planning in diverse academic curricula. ‘Active Learning' has been coined as one of the best striving to let students regain ‘ownership' of their studying and cognitive development. Simulations, programming, gaming and storytelling are promising candidates for empowering the learning and increasing intrinsic motivation. The chapter will synthesize the various aspects of active learning like: Collaborative, Constructive, Authentic, Situational and Intentional Learning, in order to enable teachers to integrate these instructional ingredients for blended learning even after the Covid-19 era. Learning paradigms have shifted from cognitive acquisition into constructivist approaches, where the learner is encouraged to build more complex concepts from elementary primitives. In this evolution, programming experiences have an important generic role: Students from all major directions need to integrate their thinking in topics like: Algorithmic Thinking, Data Mining, Meta Data, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Deep Fake, Analytics for Smart Environments, Privacy Issues, etc. For this goal, a basic programming education and experience is useful and necessary. This chapter will highlight how university curricula need to evolve and new teacher roles will develop as well. It will illustrate the transition from the current FitPed Project to its successor. Important additional notion is that the integration of Computer Science and Programming Courses need innovative didactic scenarios as well;Problem-based Learning and Challenge-based Learning are two of the most prominent candidates. After having read this chapter, you will be motivated and equipped to pro-actively design new ICT-oriented courses with your colleagues. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
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Background: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has become a social problem in children. Evidence from previous studies has proven that anxiety is associated with IGD. However, IGD was always assessed as a whole based on total scores, and the fine-grained relationship between anxiety and IGD was hidden. Objective: The present study aims to investigate the fine-grained relationship between anxiety and IGD in elementary school students during the COVID-19 lockdown, and to identify potential targets for psychological interventions. Methods: During the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 667 children from a primary school in China were investigated by the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale-Short Version and Internet Gaming Disorder Scale. R4.1.1 software was used to construct a network model, assess bridge centrality, and test the robustness of the network and conduct a network. Results: There were 23 cross-community edges (weight ranged from -0.03 to 0.12), and each node of anxiety was connected to different nodes of IGD. The nodes with the top 80th percentile bridge expected influence were A2 "social phobia" (0.20), A3 "panic disorder" (0.21) and IGD5 "escape" (0.22). The robustness of the network was acceptable. Conclusion: From the perspective of network analysis, the present study explored the correlation pathways between anxiety and IGD in children and identified social phobia and panic disorder as the best targets for intervention to reduce IGD.
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Introduction: With the inevitable technological boom enforced by the COVID-19 lockdowns and online emergency remote teaching practices, the prevalence of nomophobia (NMP) and smartphone addiction (SA) among adolescents has become a pressing issue, which has come under scrutiny. However, the impact of social media tools usage (SMTU) and digital gaming behavior (DGB) on these phenomena remains unclear since there is little research focusing on the complex interplay among these variables. Regarding this context, the present study aimed to explore the parallel mediating role of secondary school students' SMTU and DGB in the relation between NMP and SA. Methods: In line with this aim, we employed a cross-sectional design with a critical case sampling strategy and collected data through an online survey from a total of 427 secondary school students in Istanbul in the 2021-2022 academic year. In order to test the parallel mediation model, we employed multiple linear regression models by utilizing PROCESS models with 5000 BC bootstrap samples and 95% CI. Results and discussion: Results illustrated that there was an increase in the prevalence of NMP and SA during the COVID-19 home confinement as consistent with the previous research. The results also indicated that among the multiple mediators, the mediating role of SMTU was significant in the relation between NMP and SA. This means NMP has direct and indirect significant impact on SA through SMTU. However, the mediating role of DGB was found nonsignificant in this relationship. Our results are robust and hold key contributions to both theoria and praxis in educational psychology research realm by disentangling the complex underlying mechanism between NMP, SMTU, DGB, and SA. On the practical side, our results provide insightful implications for school boards and researchers in the development of effective interventions.
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In this study, we examine the short-term stock price reactions of Japanese gaming companies to events related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Using the event study method, we first estimate stock price reactions to the outbreak of the pandemic and the declaration of a state of emergency. We then perform multivariate regressions to investigate the factors affecting market responses. Our results demonstrate that the stock prices of Japanese gaming companies reacted negatively to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the initial negative effects were greater for mobile gaming companies and for companies with small sizes or low Tobin's Q. By contrast, the market has reacted positively to the declaration of the state of emergency, which perhaps drove more people to play games at home.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the way how we communicate with others. From ZOOM to Meta-verse, an increasing number of people are shifting to the virtual world for work and personal life. However, as a technology, virtual reality is still considered merely a device for immersive gaming for the young generation. Thus, despite itspotential, virtual reality is hardly discussed as acore technology enabling Metaverse, which provides a virtual world for everyone. Therefore, it is necessary to examine prior studies for an understanding full spectrum of virtual reality research. There are three primary aims of this study: 1. To trace the history of virtual reality research for providing a holisticview oftheresearch trajectory. 2. Todiscover prevalent topics during the last 34 years as well as highly cited papers and authors. 3. To find hub topics for identifying the direction of interdisciplinary research. © 2022, Tamkang University. All rights reserved.
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This book offers a meticulous overview of the future of tourism in Asian countries. This book provides new dimensions to the tourism research and tourism industry as it is concerned with the future vision of tourism in Asia. The main purpose of the book is to envision the outcomes both positive and negative from the tourism industry to prepare our future generations. This book expands on the concept that tourism is not sedentary and is ever changing rapidly. A unique feature of the book is that it brings into limelight the unexplored places of Asia as well as a growth of low-cost tourism in Asia This book discusses how Asia can enjoy the competitive advantage in future. Also, whether the future outlook is bright or dark for the tourism sector in the Asia region. This book highlights the unexplored themes of tourism in Asia such as Over-tourism, Sports Tourism, Baby Boomers and Seenger Tourism, Literary Tourism, Experiential Tourism, Psychographic Segmentation of Future Tourists. The chapters have been authored by experts in their respective fields. This book allows readers to explore how different Asian countries might best serve tourism products in the future. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.
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Background and aims: Studies have shown that gaming disorder (GD) is associated with rumination and poor sleep quality. However, the reciprocal relationship between GD, rumination and sleep quality is unclear. Moreover, the differences between gender and between left-behind experiences in the aforementioned relationship remain unknown. Therefore, the present study examined gender differences and left-behind experiences in the relationship between GD, rumination, and sleep quality among a sample of Chinese university students during the late stage of COVID-19 pandemic using a network analysis approach. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey of 1,872 Chinese university students was conducted comprising demographic information (age, gender, and left-behind experience), gaming experience, gaming frequency, Gaming Disorder Test (GDT), Short Version of Rumination Response Scale (RRS), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Results: Among Chinese university students, the prevalence of (i) GD was 3.5% and (ii) sleep disturbance was 14%. GD had positive and weak connection with rumination and sleep quality in the domain-level relational network. The network structures and global strengths both showed no significant differences between gender and between left-behind experiences. The nodes gd3 ("continuation or escalation of gaming") and gd4 ("gaming problems") had the strongest edge in the network. Conclusion: The results suggest reciprocal relationships between GD, rumination, and sleep quality. Gender and left-behind experiences did not influence the reciprocal relationship between GD, rumination, and sleep quality during the late stage of COVID-19 pandemic. Using network analysis, the findings provide novel insights that rumination and sleep quality may have interacted with GD among Chinese students during the late stage of COVID-19 pandemic. Reducing or eliminating negative rumination may decrease GD and improve sleep quality. Moreover, good sleep quality contributes to positive rumination which may decrease the risk of GD among Chinese university students.
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Loot boxes are virtual items that can be redeemed to receive randomly selected other virtual items, and have been criticized for being similar to gambling. The presence of loot boxes in video games has dramatically increased since 2010, with little evidence available for the current prevalence rate of loot box purchasing in the general population, particularly during and following the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. This study uses data from representative samples of American youth to estimate prevalence rates for video game play and loot box consumption before the pandemic (2019) and after the pandemic lockdowns (2022) to examine whether the pandemic has affected loot box usage in the general population and among gamers. The results suggest that youth loot box consumption has increased, rising from 24.9% in 2019 to 31.6% in 2022 among 8th grade (age 13-14) youth. The increase over this time period was larger for girls, though boys are still more likely to purchase loot boxes overall.
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Behavior, Addictive , COVID-19 , Gambling , Male , Female , Humans , Adolescent , United States , Pandemics , COVID-19/epidemiology , Communicable Disease ControlABSTRACT
The Virtual Snap World is a project that aims to facilitate the teaching of electronics through educational tools. It finds opportunities in the Minecraft video game to connect and promote interest in science and engineering in new generations. This new setting eases the hybrid environment performance which means it provides the face-to-face or virtual system. This presents a solution to the problem the COVID-19 pandemic has created so as to focus on prevention measurements for contagion and the impediment to create events. This project allows having learning spaces considering people's health now that it can be developed from anywhere in the world.
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Objective: The present study aimed to describe screen use patterns among Turkish adolescents during the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic with a special emphasis on social media and digital gaming addiction, and explore how these are linked to adolescents' mental and academic well-being.Materials and Method: The study sample consisted of 9th to 12th grade students from three public high-schools in Istanbul, Turkey (n=201). Participants were required to complete a comprehensive questionnaire which gathered information about various domains including problematic screen use, attitudes towards online education, and mental/academic well-being during the lockdown period.Results: The overall screen time exhibited a significant increase during the lockdown, with the most common discretionary screen activities being social media use, communication, and watching movies/series (p<0.001). The students spent significantly less time on physical activities (p=0.003) and face-to-face meetings with their friends (p<0.001). Male students presented with higher scores on gaming addiction (p<0.001), whereas a significantly higher proportion of the female students (28.57% vs. 14.81%) were classified as atrisk for social media addiction (p=0.046). Both gaming addiction and social media addiction were associated with higher depression scores (p=0.003 and p<0.001 respectively).Conclusion: Screen use patterns may have diverse consequences for youth's well-being during the pandemic. The addiction risk and other detrimental outcomes are likely to be associated with the qualitative features of screen activities, rather than just the amount of time spent on digital media by the adolescents.
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Internet Use Disorders Among German Adolescents Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Theoretical background: Several studies indicate that the level of adolescents' time spent online increased sharply during the lockdown measures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Initial studies also link this to an increase in Internet use disorders. Objective: Using an ipsative comparison, the present study examined whether Internet use disorders and symptoms of problematic Internet use increased among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic and how this is related to quality of life. Method: For this purpose, we examined 743 (unselected) adolescents from eight secondary schools (26 classes) in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region in two waves using the Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS). The first wave (t1, n = 507;M-Age= 15.7, SDAge = 1.8, female = 49 %) was collected between July 2015 and October 2016. The second wave (t2, n = 236, M-Age = 15.3, SDAge = 2.3, female = 54 %) was studied in the same schools and grade levels (also 26 classes) from July to December 2021. Results: There was a significant increase in symptom severity of Internet use disorders. The CIUS mean score increased from M = 15.8 to M = 19.3 points (M-diff = -3.5 points, 95 % KI [-4.9, -2.1], p < .001, partial eta(2) = .03. The prevalence of addictive Internet use doubled from 7.1 % before to 14.8 % during the pandemic (p = .002). Hazardous Internet use did not increase significantly (13.8 % at t1 vs. 15.7 % at t2, p = .749). In contrast, normal Internet use decreased by 10 % from 79.1 % to 69.5 % (p = .006). Symptom severity was also moderately negatively correlated with quality of life, which is below the normal range in individuals with addictive Internet use. Discussion and Conclusion: The extent to which the increase in Internet use disorders is attributable to exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic is debatable. Nevertheless, the results do indicate an increased need for care among adolescents. Situational prevention interventions should therefore be expanded and implemented. The subsequent implementation of evidence-based behavioral prevention and early intervention programs should be promoted as well as facilitation of access to therapeutic services.
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The current study aimed to investigate comorbidity among symptoms of depression and internet gaming disorder (IGD) utilizing symptom network analysis in a sample of Chinese adolescents. A total of 1,362 Chinese adolescents (Mean age = 15.19 ± 1.67; range 13-21; 39.79% female, 56.02% male, 4.19% not disclosed) were recruited from 11 local secondary schools between June and July 2020. Symptoms of depression and IGD were assessed by the 7-item DASS-21 depression subscale and the 9-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale. We conducted network analysis to estimate network models and the most central symptoms of depression and IGD and computed a combined network model of both depression and IGD symptoms to find bridge symptoms and illustrate the comorbidity between depression and IGD. We found that feeling 'Worthless', 'Meaningless', and 'Down-hearted' were identified as the most central symptoms of depression, whereas 'Preoccupation' and 'Tolerance' were the two most central symptoms of IGD. The bridge symptoms in the combined network model were 'Gaming for escape or mood relief' from the IGD cluster and 'No initiative' and 'Down-hearted" from the depression cluster. The current study was the first to investigate the relationship between depression and IGD symptoms among adolescents utilizing a symptom network perspective. Also, it highlighted key bridge symptoms in understanding how IGD and depression contribute to each other.
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Behavior, Addictive , Video Games , Humans , Male , Adolescent , Female , Depression , Internet Addiction Disorder , East Asian People , Behavior, Addictive/diagnosis , InternetABSTRACT
In recent decades, the number of people who experience their Internet use behavior as problematic has risen dramatically. In Germany, a representative study from 2013 estimated the prevalence of Internet use disorder (IUD) to be about 1.0%, with higher rates among younger people. A 2020 meta-analysis shows a global weighted average prevalence of 7.02%. This indicates that developing effective IUD treatment programs is more critical than ever. Studies show that motivational interviewing (MI) techniques are widely used and effective in treating substance abuse and IUDs. In addition, an increasing number of online-based health interventions are being developed to provide a low-threshold treatment option. This article presents a short-term online-based treatment manual for IUDs that combines MI techniques with therapy tools from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). The manual includes 12 webcam-based therapy sessions, each lasting 50 min. Each session is framed by a standardized beginning, conclusion, outlook, and flexible session content. In addition, the manual contains example sessions to illustrate the therapeutic intervention. Finally, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of online-based therapy compared to analog treatment settings and provide recommendations for dealing with these challenges. By combining established therapeutic approaches with an online-based therapeutic setting based on flexibility and motivation, we aim to provide a low-threshold solution for treating IUDs.
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Learning platforms have become an integral part of the education system these days. Especially after the COVID era, education has become more allied with self-paced and remote learning and learning platforms have made it boom exponentially. Improper construction and implementation of such platforms can lead to huge risks for the users and the company. Data security is not taken much care of while building such platforms;instead, concentration is given to fancy front-end pages and attractive interfaces. This may not be good at all times. Data is one of the most powerful resources and can have a very big impact if misused. This paper proposes a networking-based approach to implementing such platform systems in a safe and organized way. Implementation using networking concepts gives a better hand in managing permissions, access rights, and security in all data-related transfers and communications. In terms of online gaming and real-time video communication, User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is often used because it is faster than Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and is well-suited for real-time applications that cannot tolerate delays. UDP is a connectionless protocol, which means it doesn't retransmit lost data and therefore has lower overhead, making it a good choice for real-time applications like video conferencing and online gaming. Examples of such applications include Skype, Google Meet, Zoom, and Facetime. Based on these existing applications, this work introduces UDP in the field of Learning Platform Applications and builds a model on top of which real-time applications can be constructed. The proposed system makes use of UDP for all its requests, responses, and file transfers. The protocol itself is not very reliable, but the addition of provisions for acknowledgements in all requests and responses makes this system overcome transfer uncertainty. Implementation using networking concepts improves the speed, security, privacy, and customization abilities of the proposed system. © 2023 IEEE.
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The global COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the popularity of video games and online-gaming platforms. However, little research is devoted to understanding how the pandemic has affected gamers, especially live-stream broadcasters. Therefore, our study aimed to evaluate the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on established streamers on Twitch. By using a longitudinal time-series design and focusing on a large sample (N = 23,019) of broadcasters, we were able to determine the initial as well as prolonged effects of the pandemic on their streaming behavior. Our results suggest that the pandemic was a”game changer” for the target group, especially in regard to their choice of game settings and their focus on non-gaming content. Relating the data obtained from the target group of established streamers to the general platform data, we discuss the pandemic-related platform dynamics. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.
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Indoor cycling has been a trend during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the lockdowns and social distancing measures imposed by most countries. Virtual cycling (eCycling) has grown exponentially, and its popularity among amateur and professional cyclists is shown by the fact that they regularly participate in virtual competitions in which people from all over the world interact via streaming. Although eCycling is derived from a traditional sport and adapted to a virtual platform, its future success once real competitions are reinstated has been seriously questioned. This virtual cycling modality has been openly criticized for the potential differences when competing and that it does not represent the true essence of cycling. These questions and the lack of clear guidelines for its competition suggest that eCycling has to go a long way before being considered a sport. This manuscript aims to present some challenges and opportunities regarding how virtual racing could be sustainable over time once the COVID-19 lockdown is over and demonstrate that eCycling was not just filling a short-term void left by real cycling during this pandemic.
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This paper presents the initial findings of a longitudinal study examining the role and experiences of LAN organizers in managing player communities pre, during and post the Covid 19 pandemic. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyze interviews with organizers of the Birdie LAN, Sweden's longest running LAN event. Five key themes were identified reflecting the roles of organizers and their experiences pre pandemic. (1) building and maintaining the culture, (2) encouraging inclusivity and community building, (3) negotiating professionalism, (4) learning, adapting and evolving, (5) creating sustainability through a future orientation. This paper presents the results of the first data collection to examine the impacts of the pandemic on grassroots gaming communities. The findings here represent a foundation in understanding the role of community leaders in maintaining a culture around gaming. These initial findings add value to our understanding of grassroots esports and player communities and the social practices of gaming in the modern era. © 2023 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.
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The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) seems to be having a major impact on physical activity behaviours globally. The pandemic has forced many people around the world to stay at home and self-isolate for a period of time. WHO recommends 60 min/day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity for 6–17-yr-olds, and 75 min/wk of vigorous or 150 min/wk of moderate physical activity for adults and elderly, including 3 and 2 days/wk, respectively, with muscle and bone strengthening. Practical recommendations for staying active at home, with aerobic exercise training on a bike or rowing ergometer, bodyweight training, dance and active video gaming, can aid to counteract the detrimental physical and mental side-effects of the COVID-19 protective lifestyle regulations. This commentary provides useful information on home-based physical activity for sedentary people across the lifespan, including children and adolescence, that can be undertaken during the present pandemic or other outbreaks of infectious disease.