ABSTRACT
Governments and health agencies around the world have been at the forefront of managing the COVID-19 pandemic. To control the spread of the outbreak, mandatory safety protocols have been put into effect. Despite the continuous development and strict enforcement of these preventive guidelines, non-compliance with these mandatory safety protocols has been reported. Getting the message to the public is one of the key challenges in convincing people to follow mitigation policies. In this study, we employed the media of video games to advocate for COVID-19 safety protocols. We developed a video game called "Corona Larona"that features microgames with action gameplay playable on a mobile platform. Our video game concentrated on several preventive measures such as physical distancing, hand washing, wearing face masks as well as basic knowledge about the virus using in-game multiple choice questions. To our knowledge, this is the first video game dedicated to the COVID-19 outbreak and the mandatory safety protocols. In a time when many people play video games to survive their current situation, the Corona Larona game is a strategic example of using and maximizing this form of media for a more noble purpose. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
With the insurgence of cryptocurrency and the thriving business of mobile games, games related to cryptocurrency have gained enormous interests in recent years. This paper presents a real time online multiplayer board game, Cryptocoinopoly, which is a hybrid of the existing Cryptocoinopoly board game and Monopoly. Unity (a cross-platform game engine) has been used in the development process together with Photon Unity Networking (PUN), which is a Unity package for creating online multiplayer games. At the level, Cryptocoinopoly is represented by Remote Database, Game Server, Network, Application (Game), Local Database and Client components. Notable functions such as allowing users to play the game with multiple people and for no matter how many rounds they desire;allowing users to invest into the cryptocurrency market at any time and allowing users to trade their assets with other players have been successfully implemented. Functionality testing and debugging have been conducted under constrained conditions with limited resources due to the on-going Covid-19 situation. Despite the challenges, all functional and non-functional requirements of the prototype have been fulfilled. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The closure of educational institutions due to the COVID-19 pandemic leads imperatively to the utilization of technological advances and the Internet for enabling the continuity of learning. To this direction, Mobile Game-based Learning (MGbL) can be beneficial to teaching and learning; since, from technological perspective, most students prefer to use their mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets, and from pedagogical perspective, incorporating gaming in educational process can boost students' motivation for learning and improve their learning outcomes. Hence, this study investigates learners' intention to use MGbL as an alternative educational practice during the COVID-19 pandemic, by modeling the pedagogical affordance of this technology and student interactions with it. As a testbed for this research, a MGbL application was used for the instruction of the programming language C# in higher education, during the lockdown period of 2020. The findings reveal that the MGbL technology has a significant and positive impact on student engagement and academic performance.
ABSTRACT
As the COVID-19 storms the globe, there are many efforts to battle it. This paper looks at the development of one such an effort in a form of a mobile game. The game is a 2D arcade game called Unus Terra. It is intended to be entertaining but aims to influence people to partake in social distancing through several mechanics. An early version of the game is evaluated by five usability and user experience experts using heuristics and a few other selected methods. In this paper, we present the results from these evaluations along with our findings from using this type of evaluation method. The use of heuristics is considered from the perspectives of academics and practitioners. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The 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/approach: The 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. Findings: The 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/implications: Current 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/value: In 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. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Globally, 3 out of 20 children experience sexual abuse before the age of 18 years. Educating children about sexual abuse and prevention is an evidence-based strategy that is recommended for ending child sexual abuse. Digital games are increasingly being used to influence healthy behaviors in children and could be an efficient and friendly approach to educating children about sexual abuse prevention. However, little is known on the best way to develop a culturally sensitive game that targets children in Africa-where sexual education is still taboo-that would be engaging, effective, and acceptable to parents and caretakers. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop a socioculturally appropriate, mobile-based game for educating young children (<5 years) and parents and caretakers in Tanzania on sexual abuse prevention. METHODS: HappyToto children's game was co-designed with 111 parents and caretakers (females: n=58, 52.3%; male: n=53, 47.7%) of children below 18 years of age and 24 child experts in Tanzania through surveys and focus group discussions conducted from March 2020 to April 2020. From these, we derived an overview of topics, sociocultural practices, social environment, and game interface designs that should be considered when designing child sexual abuse prevention (CSAP) education interventions. We also conducted paper prototyping and storyboarding sessions for the game's interface, storylines, and options. To validate the application's prototype, 32 parents (females: n=18, 56%; males: n=14, 44%) of children aged 3-5 years and 5 children (females: n=2, 40%; males: n=3, 60%) of the same age group played the game for half an hour on average. The parents undertook a pre-post intervention assessment on confidence and ability to engage in CSAP education conversations, as well as exit surveys on the usability and sociocultural acceptability of the game, while children were quizzed on the topics covered and their enjoyment of the game. RESULTS: Parents and caregivers showed interest in the developed game during the conducted surveys, and each parent on average navigated through all the parts of the game. The confidence level of parents in talking about CSAP increased from an average of 3.56 (neutral) before using the game to 4.9 (confident) after using the game. The ability scores, calculated based on a range of topics included in CSAP education talks with children, also increased from 5.67 (out of 10) to 8.8 (out of 10) after the game was played. Both confidence level and ability scores were statistically significant (P<.001). All 5 children were interested in the game and enjoyed the game-provided activities. CONCLUSIONS: The HappyToto game can thus be an effective technology-based intervention for improving the knowledge and skills of parents and children in CSAP education.