Computer Games Assignment(33 students submitted their analyses)

Years covered:

1979: 1

1981: 1

1983: 1

1985: 2

1986: 1

1996: 3

1997:2

1998: 1

1999: 4

2000: 6

2001: 6

2002: 6

Titles covered:

• Diablo II

• www.stardock.com/products/lwninja/

• Sega Bass Fishing

• Madden NFL 2003 (2)

• The Sims

• Halo

• Super Mario Brothers (2)

• Street Fighter 3

• FIFA 2002

• Command & Conquer: Red Alert

• Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun

• SNK vs. Capcom

• (unspecified titles) (2)

• Bust-A-Groove

• Return to Castle Wolfenstein

• NBA Street

• Backyard Baseball

• Asteroids

• Dragon’s Lair

• Aggressive Inline

• NFL 2K2

• Minesweeper

• Solitaire

• Age of Empires II: Age of Kings

• Free Cell Solitaire

• Family Feud

• American McGee’s Alice

• The Legend of Zelda

• Resident Evil

• Tomb Raider

• Grand Theft Auto III

Computer Games Assignment(33 students submitted their analyses)

Gender identifications of the games:

Male: 13

Female: 0

Androgynous: 20

Androgynous and Male: 1

Traditional representation of femininity in our culture implies that emotion and intuition are most often associated with women. Technology is perceived as logical and mechanistic that is fundamentally opposed to this representation of femininity.

•Sherry Turkle, who is an MIT professor, says that the computer is a personal and cultural symbol of what a woman is not.

•How could technology change if girls start using computers more often?

•Give reasons for and against designing software along the lines of traditional femininity.

‘Girls’ Games Movement’

Girls’ Games Movement• This movement emerged out of the realization that girls do not get socialized

with technology in the same way as as boys and that they are in fact excluded from that participation : gaming is one area in which this early socialization with technology occurs

• girls make 15-17% of the computer games market

• 1997 MIT conference explores girls lesser and later access to computer games than boys which initiates a vicious circle, with fewer women working in computer science and technology fields

• Girls’ Games Movement combines the efforts of feminist scholars and industry leaders in evaluating (and developing) the new resources that will promote the socialization of girls to technology through play

Girls’ Games Movement• The arguments pro- and against- designing software for girls, and how that

software should look, are still integral to the debates initiated by the Girls’ Games Movement

• What is your own take on these debates?

Girls’ Games Movement: Ch. 1

• In groups of 4-5, work through the chapter you have chosen and do the following:

• provide brief summary and the main arguments of the chapter

• (if applicable) debate with the arguments presented in this paper

• present your findings as a group to the class

Girls’ Games Movement: Ch. 2

• In groups of 4-5, work through the chapter you have chosen and do the following:

• provide brief summary and the main arguments of the chapter

• (if applicable) debate with the arguments presented in this paper

• present your findings as a group to the class

Girls’ Games Movement: Ch. 3

• In groups of 4-5, work through the chapter you have chosen and do the following:

• provide brief summary and the main arguments of the chapter

• (if applicable) debate with the arguments presented in this paper

• present your findings as a group to the class

Girls’ Games Movement: Ch. 4

• In groups of 4-5, work through the chapter you have chosen and do the following:

• provide brief summary and the main arguments of the chapter

• (if applicable) debate with the arguments presented in this paper

• present your findings as a group to the class

Interviews

Brenda Laurel (Purple Moon)

http://teacher.scholastic.com/BookUpdate/rockettsworld, http://www.purple-moon.com

• In groups of 4-5, choose one of the interviews from your textbook, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat (1999) and work through the following:

– Background information about the interviewee and the company they are associated with

– Give an assessment of their product(s) to the best of your knowledge.

– What is the philosophy that, according to the interview, influences how company develops their products along gender lines?

– Bookmark relevant information on the web that supports your arguments (you will show these sites to your classmates). What is the social world and / or culture of computing revealed in the iconography of sites? What ‘gendered’ values and what ‘gendered’communities do they reflect?

Interviews

Nancie S. Martin (Mattel)

• In groups of 4-5, choose one of the interviews from your textbook, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat (1999) and work through the following:

– Background information about the interviewee and the company they are associated with

– Give an assessment of their product(s) to the best of your knowledge.

– What is the philosophy that, according to the interview, influences how company develops their products along gender lines?

– Bookmark relevant information on the web that supports your arguments (you will show these sites to your classmates). What is the social world and / or culture of computing revealed in the iconography of sites? What ‘gendered’ values and what ‘gendered’communities do they reflect?

Interviews

Heather Kelley (Girl Games)

• In groups of 4-5, choose one of the interviews from your textbook, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat (1999) and work through the following:

– Background information about the interviewee and the company they are associated with

– Give an assessment of their product(s) to the best of your knowledge.

– What is the philosophy that, according to the interview, influences how company develops their products along gender lines?

– Bookmark relevant information on the web that supports your arguments (you will show these sites to your classmates). What is the social world and / or culture of computing revealed in the iconography of sites? What ‘gendered’ values and what ‘gendered’communities do they reflect?

Interviews

Theresa Duncan and Monica Gesue (Chop Suey)

• In groups of 4-5, choose one of the interviews from your textbook, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat (1999) and work through the following:

– Background information about the interviewee and the company they are associated with

– Give an assessment of their product(s) to the best of your knowledge.

– What is the philosophy that, according to the interview, influences how company develops their products along gender lines?

– Bookmark relevant information on the web that supports your arguments (you will show these sites to your classmates). What is the social world and / or culture of computing revealed in the iconography of sites? What ‘gendered’ values and what ‘gendered’communities do they reflect?

Interviews

McEnany Caraher (Sega)

• In groups of 4-5, choose one of the interviews from your textbook, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat (1999) and work through the following:

– Background information about the interviewee and the company they are associated with

– Give an assessment of their product(s) to the best of your knowledge.

– What is the philosophy that, according to the interview, influences how company develops their products along gender lines?

– Bookmark relevant information on the web that supports your arguments (you will show these sites to your classmates). What is the social world and / or culture of computing revealed in the iconography of sites? What ‘gendered’ values and what ‘gendered’communities do they reflect?

Interviews

Marsha Kinder (Intertexts Multimedia)

• In groups of 4-5, choose one of the interviews from your textbook, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat (1999) and work through the following:

– Background information about the interviewee and the company they are associated with

– Give an assessment of their product(s) to the best of your knowledge.

– What is the philosophy that, according to the interview, influences how company develops their products along gender lines?

– Bookmark relevant information on the web that supports your arguments (you will show these sites to your classmates). What is the social world and / or culture of computing revealed in the iconography of sites? What ‘gendered’ values and what ‘gendered’communities do they reflect?