Rohiqum Noberta || Dr. Supardi Hamid, M.Si.
Volume: 14 Issue: 03, 2026
Abstract:
This study discusses the relationship between online games, digital communities, and the radicalization of lone wolf youth in the perspective of cyber policing in Indonesia. The digital space now functions not only as entertainment, but also as an arena for identity formation, social relations, solidarity, and the search for recognition. This research uses qualitative methods through literature studies and policy analysis. The study combines literature on online radicalization, lone actor terrorism, social identity theory, social learning theory, routine activity theory, situational action theory, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and cyber policing. The results of the study show that online games are not the direct cause of radicalism. Risks arise when the digital ecosystem is exploited by extreme actors through anonymity, closed communities, symbols of violence, recommendation algorithms, and young people's need for a sense of belonging. This study also confirms that lone wolf perpetrators can act alone, but the radicalization process is still influenced by digital communities, extreme narratives, and reference figures. Therefore, prevention needs to be directed at a preventive-collaborative cyber policing model that combines risk-based early detection, digital literacy, counternarrative, platform cooperation, child protection, assistance to vulnerable groups, and legal accountability.