Magical Mirrors and I: Interweaving learning with mirror play

How is the Gacha System Reported on in Japan?

This study explains how the gacha, a random-type item provider system in mobile online games or game apps, is reported on in Japan by analyzing 233 newspaper articles. Results revealed that business frames were the most frequently used. After gacha became controversial in 2012, its problematic social nature was reported. After the controversy, news stories shifted focus more to the inaccuracy of probability rates of special items. The Japanese newspapers reported the innovative but controversial nature of gacha by balancing complaints from consumers, concerns and criticism from governmental organizations, and the profits and social responsibility of the game industry.

“Who thinks beating a child is entertainment?”: Ideological Constructions of the Figure of ‘The Child’ in Detroit: Become Human

This article draws on sociological and anthropological theories relating to cultural constructions of the figure of ‘the child’ to determine whether Detroit: Become Human by Quantic Dream affirms or subverts ideological beliefs about children. It argues that much of the backlash Quantic Dream experienced following the premiere of the game’s trailer, which featured a scene of child abuse, can be understood part of a broader moral performance that relies on the sanctity of ‘the child’ to function as a touchstone for the modern Western society. It concludes that far from challenging dominant narratives about the moral value of ‘the child’, Detroit: Become Human replicates a conservative, reactionary, paternalistic view of children’s position within society.

“Sometimes I Like Killing as a Treat”: Children’s Transgressive Play in Minecraft

Children’s play in digital spaces is often discussed in popular discourse and in academia in terms of what kind of effect it may be having on children. One area of concern is the relationship between ‘violent videogames’ and real-world violence. However, little is known about how children actually play in digitally mediated play spaces including Minecraft which offers sandbox style free-play and does not necessarily involve any prescribed violence. We have collected recordings of 6-8-year-old children’s leisure time Minecraft play and used a taxonomic system of play types to describe the range of play observed. Some observed play did not fit neatly into any of the play types. In this paper we describe one such instance of play which involved unprovoked violence and draw on a range of literature in the process of conceptualizing this play as Transgressive. This paper provides much needed knowledge of children’s Minecraft play as it occurs in situ.

A digital gap in Polish families on the example of video games

Keep the monkey rolling: eye-hand coordination in Super Monkey Ball

This paper examines the relation between eye-hand coordination and computer games, specifically Super Monkey Ball. The study is exploratory and focuses on theoretical background and method problems. At the end of the paper the results from the pilot study is briefly presented. The results from the study are inconclusive in regard to the two main questions: Is there a connection between good skills in playing computer games and eyehand coordination? Do avid computer game players have better eye-hand coordination than others?

Power and control of games: children as the actors of game cultures

The primary aim of this paper is to look into the game related practices and significances of games. This perspective is applied to examining the pleasures derived from different games and to analyse the different strategies developed by children and their families to situate and control game playing. Research was conducted among 10–12-year-old children in Finland during spring and summer 2003. Sample of 284 survey questionnaires filled out by children and their parents provides an overview on the subject and the basis for 15 thematic interviews. It is hard to point towards any single element in games as the most powerfully engaging one, but the imaginary worlds provided by games seem to have an important role in offering children possibilities for experiencing things otherwise impossible. In terms of control, there does not seem to be any severe conflicts or serious troubles currently surrounding games in homes.

Understanding Empathy in Children through 3D Character Design

Health, particularly diet and everyday nutrition, as the ultimate causal factor in life is an important aspect of every child’s education. Meanwhile, computer generated (CG) 3- dimensional (3-D) graphics is a medium often used by entertainment and advertising. Educational intervention to help children make appropriate dietary choices can be designed by employing similar methods used by entertainment and advertising, such as 3-D characters aimed at children. The question that this research asked is: can creating an empathic bond between 3-D characters and children communicate a healthy nutrition message effectively? This thesis is based on qualitative research founded on the constructionist theory that focuses on exploring the perspective of children via focus groups. Educational designs based on familiar computer-generated graphics will help equip children to deal with nutritional and dietary choices, ultimately initiating behavioural change as their relationship with food matures earlier. Empathy on the children’s and adult’s sides of the healthy nutrition conversation is important to establish this relationship in children’s nutritional decisions. The main challenge for nutrition education is not in shortterm diversions, but long-term changes in behavioural responses in media literacy. A constructionist approach of helping children work through advertising by improving their media vocabulary would be a more sustainable approach to enhancing their ability to decode advertising rhetoric and in turn forming their own informed opinion and responses. Industry referenced educational content intent on healthy lifestyles can balance the prevalent advertising messages leading to a more balanced overall media that children are exposed to.

Parental mediation of children’s video game playing: A similar construct as television mediation

By means of an Internet-survey among 536 parent-child dyads, we researched which mediation strategies parents use for their children’s (8-18 years) video gaming. As in previous research on television mediation, principle factor analyses show that the same types of strategies are used: ‘restrictive mediation’, ‘evaluative mediation’, and ‘consicous co-playing’. Mediation is most strongly predicted by the age of the child and by parents’ gaming. Furthermore, parents are more restrictive and evaluative when they fear negative media-effects on behaviors and attitudes. They somewhat more often play together with the child when they suppose positive social-emotional effects of gaming.

Girls Creating Games: Challenging Existing Assumptions about Game Content

In a reinforcing cycle, few females create games and fewer girls than boys play games. In this paper, we increase our understanding of what girls like about games and gaming by describing the content of 45 games that were designed and programmed by middle school girls. The findings suggest that that when given the opportunity, girls design games that challenge the current thematic trends in the gaming industry. The most prominent theme was the way they expressed and worked through fears and social issues in their stories. Most used bright, vivid colors, and their stories took place in real world settings and involved moral decisions. Few used violent feedback. Girls also used the games as spaces to play with gender role stereotypes by challenging authority figures and using humor. We discuss the implications of these findings for the debate on whether games should be gender-specific or gender-neutral.