The details emerging from a tragic national story about a missing boy in Canada point to an important observation about videogaming: that taking away a videogame (or device it's played on) does not have the same effect as taking away a toy or conventional game. Fifteen-year-old Brandon Crisp of Barrie, Ontario, missing for more than two weeks, left the house angry after his father took away his … [Read more...] about Don’t just take away the Xbox: Psychiatrist’s view
videogames
US teens’ gaming highly social: Study
Digital gaming is virtually universal and very social among US teens, the Pew Internet & American Life Project found in a study it released today. "Fully 97% of teens [99% of boys and 94% of girls] ages 12-17 play computer, web, portable, or console games," Pew reports. As for the social aspect of digital gaming, 65% of teens play with other people in the room; 27% with people online; and 82% play … [Read more...] about US teens’ gaming highly social: Study
Hateful game gets global press
From the news coverage I've seen, it's not worth the media attention it has gotten (and here I am giving it some, tho' hopefully with a little perspective). I'm referring to an extremely offensive downloadable arcade-style game called "Muslim Massacre," reportedly created by a 22-year-old Australian man, Eric Vaughn, "known online as 'Sigvatr'" (see News.com.au in Oz). "The game begins with audio … [Read more...] about Hateful game gets global press
The Spore metaphor
A perfect illustration of the mix of positives and negatives - mostly positives - that is the user-driven Web: the debut of Spore. There's a whole lot to Spore - entertainment, education, strategy, creativity, savagery.... And everything's represented in its media story: a gamemaker's (Will Wright's) world-class creativity; old-style mass-media marketing; social Web viral marketing; and users' … [Read more...] about The Spore metaphor
Videogames: ‘Hotbeds of scientific thinking for kids’
They may be "tuning out of science in the classroom," as a Wired News commentary puts it, but gamers are still learning and (avidly) practicing science, Prof. Constance Steinkuehler at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, found in a soon-to-be-published study, "Scientific Habits of Mind in Virtual Worlds." She and her co-author, Sean Duncan, "downloaded the content of 1,984 posts in 85 threads in … [Read more...] about Videogames: ‘Hotbeds of scientific thinking for kids’