Gender Differences in Children's Constructions of Video Games

Playing video games has become a common activity among American children. Many research approaches have focused on explaining why children love playing these games and what effects of video game playing have on children’s social, cognitive and emotional well being. Here I propose to discuss video games from a different perspective—when children are making their own video games instead of playing them. In designing such games, which features of commercially available video games would children choose to include in their own designs? Concerning the gender stereotyping found in many video games, what kind of games would girls choose to design? The results indicate significant gender differences in game character development and game feedback. Similar trends could be observed in the choice of game genre and the design of game worlds. The gender-related choices and the emergence of narrative game forms are discussed in more detail. Conclusions address the potential of game-making environments in light of the study’s results. Children’s culture of the late 20th century—their toys, games and activities—has been marked by the advent of information technologies. Video games more than any other medium have brought interactive technologies into