Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Dearest Modder

In light of my recently devised list of 10 Principles for the Digital Family, it was interesting to see an experiment in videogame rating from the perspective of a maternal player, Getting Mom to Play. As a prime directive, I have argued that it's important to play with your child in digital environments, rather than merely serve as a spectator; it turns out that the writer of this case study suggests that it's just as important to play with your parent.

Apparently, even novice players who are in the supposedly media-resistant older female demographic may find themselves enjoying first-person shooters and scorning more ostensibly wholesome entertainment, particularly if the interfaces of nonviolent games like Uno or Table Tennis are too unresponsive or nonintuitive to gratify the first-time player.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just went back and read your "10 Principles". Great! They are so practical and give great guidance without the hysteric undertone usually found in cyber-tips for parents. I know our PTA Council will want to put these out as part of our School District's Parent Education program (with your permission, of course).

I'll definitely have you over to play XBox 360, but I don't do shooter games, I get all my thrills driving LA freeways. Maybe there's a world domination game we'd enjoy that isn't so messy!

Thanks, Lynn L.

2:25 PM  
Blogger Liz Losh said...

There was some interesting commentary on the list at Game Politics earlier this week. Thanks to all those who contributed to the discussion!

2:43 PM  

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