Girls Got Game?:

Egaming and Females

Presented by Lesley Farmer

lfarmer@csulb.edu

www.csulb.edu/~lfarmer

What’s the Situation?

Are girls interested in egaming?

• YES! About 67% of 9-12 year old girls do and over

90% of 13-17 year old girls use technology

• 40% of girl game daily

• 6% of preteen and 4 % of teen girls make up game

audience

• Girls spend less time (household priorities)

What’s the Problem??

Girls don’t like the computer culture:

• They don’t like the nature of most computer games

• They dislike stereotypical female characters

• They see few female role models

• And their attitude becomes more problematic when

they hit adolescence because of social issues…

• … by the way, did you know that parents are more

likely to buy computers for boys than girls?

What Happens in Schools?

• Technology-enhanced projects are gender-neutral

or more male oriented.

• Girls are discouraged from taking advanced tech

courses.

• Girls lack info about the impact of technology on

salaries and promotions.

• Girls tend to classify all tech jobs as masculine.

• Schools tend to “dis” egames.

Benefits of Egaming

• use of fixed, equitable rules

• clear roles and expectations

• internally-consistent environment where everything is possible

• clear goals within a rich context that gives goals personal meaning and relevance

• opportunities to explore identities

• cognitive and affective engagement

• multiple ways to achieve goals through constructivist strategies

• specific, timely feedback

• sense of control and personal investment

• situated learning

• sense of reward for effort, including trial and error

• structured interaction between players, and between players and the game

• blend of cooperation and competition

Egame Mastery and Gender

• Girls master individually vs. boys learning from

each other (because of societal messages)

• Girls ask boys for advice

• Girls tend not to use manuals

• Girls tend to reset level or game

• Girls may walk away from controls/navigation

• Expert gamers are gender-neutral

Tips to Engage Girls with Egames

• Provide choice

• Get the girls’ input – and act on it

• Make it social: encourage buddy learning

• Focus on communication – and human relationships

• Encourage intellectual risk-taking

• Emphasize effort more than mastery

• Have fun!

Criteria for Choosing Egames

• confidence: encourage and support girls’ abilities

• collaboration: facilitate working together

• personal identification: relate to personal life

• contextuality: present information in narrative or story form

• flexibility/motility: offer several navigational paths

• social connectivity: facilitate interpersonal connections

• inclusion: portray diverse populations

• multimedia presence: meld high-quality graphic, motion and audio elements

Library Portals and Egaming

• add game-related displays that include game art,

game-related fiction, and information about

careers in gaming

• link to gaming magazines and strategy guides

• publicize gaming events and resources

• add student-created content, such as game

reviews

Instruction and Egaming Principles

• provide student choice (which topic to study)

• offer opportunities for low-pressure situations

• emphasize the importance of memorizing and mastering basics of a concept before applying the knowledge

• Facilitate collaborative work

• provide extra help for struggling students

• provide extension activities for students who excel

• evaluate effort rather than product

• use alternative and authentic assessments – designing demo games, tests based on mastery levels (not everyone takes the same tests)

Egaming and Information Literacy

• just-in-time verbal or textual feedback when the learner wants it

• affirmation of effort as it leads to performance and competence

• incorporation of the affective domain, particularly as it relates to personal priorities

• consideration of systems and relationships as they impact information analysis and use

• emphasis on distributed knowledge and cross-functional information-seeking teams

• acknowledgement and leveraging of multiple perspectives

• empathy of complex information systems

Representative Games/Web Sites

Links4Kids: Girls Only: http://www.links4kids.co.uk/girlsonly.htm

Girl Scouts: Girls Only: http://www.gogirlsonly.org/games/

American Girl: http://www.americangirl.com/

MyPopStudio: http://www.mypopstudio.com/

*Digital Films: http://www.digitalfilms.com

*Toondo: http://www.toondo.com

Zoey’s Room: http://www.zoeysroom.com/

Girls Tech: http://girlstech.douglass.rutgers.edu/

*PPT Game Templates:

http://www.powerpointtutorial.org/directory/powerpoint-game-template.html

Gamer Girls Unite: http://www.gamergirlsunite.com/news.php

*Yahoo Games: http://games.yahoo.com/

http://www.apple.com/webapps/

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