Code, Software and Serious Games

The Cassell/Jenkins article is useful in terms of outlining the various and often opposing or conflicting views on gendered gaming. One tactic stood out though: that of creating girls' games that respond to market research and focus groups. While it does seem like a practical and financially low-risk way to begin to establish a market for female gaming, something about its resignation (for lack of a better word) to create games based on the current trend of products marketed to girls -- the equivalent of packaging them in pink boxes -- doesn't sit well with me, even if it's only supposed to continue until the market is more firmly established. Admittedly, the whole category of "girls' games" doesn't sit well with me in the first place, for no reason I can adequately explain other than some weird aversion to acts of categorization in general. But if we are considering girls' games as a separate genre, I'm not sure simply responding to market research is the way to go about making any significant changes in the industry. While these kinds of games may convince girls that computers aren't just for boys, they run the risk of creating an entirely new dichotomy that posits certain computer practices (such as digitally designing clothes and accessories) as female and other practices (such as more exploration-based gaming) as male. I agree with Jenkins that a game like The Sims should act as a model of what we should strive for, although claiming that it sits apart from what Jenkins labels "boys'" games seems a bit much. It's not that it fits within the category of girl gaming that makes it successful in this regard, but that it seems to resist these kinds of gender-based genres.

On a more personal note, I distinctly remember playing Barbie Fashion Designer when I was younger, as well as another Barbie game in which players style her hair and do her makeup (for that game in particular, I remember getting the most pleasure out of creating some of the least Barbie-esque styles, such as combining blue lipstick with bright green streaks in her hair). I'm not sure these games are what sparked my interest in computers, though. I'm pretty sure the more gender neutral, education-based games are what made me think of computers as fun -- off the top of my head I can remember Zoombinis, JumpStart 3rd Grade Adventure (both of which were somehow still fun in high school), Put Put and Pep's Dog on a Stick, Oregon Trail, and a virtual interactive 3D dinosaur museum (being chased by a roaring, bloodthirsty 3D T-Rex was scary enough that I'll probably remember it for the rest of my life).

I do remember at one point buying a Barbie that came with a small plastic computer and software that was supposed to sync up to this Barbie-computer combo. If set up correctly, Barbie would say different things at certain points while you played the game on your own computer. I was so excited to finally be able to interact with Barbie and to have her give her own feedback rather than me simply projecting my thoughts onto her. Unfortunately, my mom and I could never get it to work properly. I was so disappointed that I didn't go near a computer again for a long time. I suppose if we're going to rely on girls' games to encourage girls to play with computers more, we should make sure the games function in the first place -- a game that doesn't work may end up alienating a girl from computers even further.