sixti1 Women and Gaming: The Sims and 21st Century Learning
Today, virtual worlds abound, avatars are every day occurrences, and video games are yesterday’s news. But today’s games are not just a pastime for millions – they are also a technological focal point for new forms of learning. James Paul Gee and Elisabeth Hayes are leading researchers in the field of gaming, and here they argue that women gamers—a group too often marginalized—are at the forefront of today’s online learning world. By utilizing the tools of gaming in ways never before
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Women and Gaming: The Sims and 21st Century Learning
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Insightful discussion of women playing the Sims with provocative ties to education reform,
This book is the latest in a long series of books and articles by noted literacy, education and games scholars – James Paul Gee and Elisabeth Hayes. I found this book to be highly engaging and quite readable as they provide a wealth of real examples and poignant descriptions demonstrating how women and girls are using the popular Sims video games. It is interesting to note however, most of the emphasis is not on playing the Sims game specifically but Gee and Hayes describe instead how these innovative women are going beyond the game and leveraging the virtual communities around the game to meet their own specific interests.
As an educator myself – and a person who’s not a digital native, I also see this book as providing a tremendous resource for educators looking to integrate technology in the classroom and indeed those educators who are looking to develop a broader understanding of the richer “beyond game” practices gamers are engaged in. For example, I found the chapter on writing fan fiction to be extremely relevant to the high school students I work with. Given all the hype around Twilight and all things vampire, the authors’ account of vampire fan fiction is quite timely in terms of popular culture but also in terms of the digital storytelling techniques many educators are working to implement in the classroom. This chapter describes in detail the participatory writing processes embedded in these fan fiction communities. Their accounting of Alex’s trajectory of writing denotes how her writing improves over time and also chronicles a common characteristic of this genre of writing – the impact of instant and iterative audience feedback uniquely present in these fan fiction communities. However, a point that I particularly enjoyed – the authors directly take on the arguments more “high-brow” critics use to disparage such activities, illustrating that fan fiction writing clearly has a place among more notable literacy genres.
Overall I see this book as providing two major overarching contributions: First, it provides a necessary discussion of the innovative gaming practices engaged in by women and girls playing the Sims. This is important to note because the gender issue is frequently only addressed in games-based discussions in conjunction with commentary on their lack of participation with this media. In addition, as the authors note, this gaming franchise has been largely neglected in the literature about gaming and as the largest selling game franchise in history, it bears exploration. Gee and Hayes go beyond the issue of gender based disparities and actually depict not only practices germane to the Sims and Sims communities, but clearly and thoughtfully identify and discuss the productivity of these practices. This dovetails with the second accomplishment of this text – a theme that’s back grounded as a through thread – a provocative running commentary on the current state of education and educational reform initiatives. The authors skillfully juxtapose current education practices against those evolving in gaming communities and digital media culture highlighting what we might learn from the richly productive practices embedded in and beyond gaming.
I highly recommend this book and eagerly await their next publication!
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|Bought for a class,
This is by far not what I was hoping for from the title, which is likely what they had in mind when picking it. Sexist sarcasm aside, I was not disappointed with the actual material in this book.
This was on a list of books to read for a New Media Theory class, and I picked it mostly as a joke to the guy next to me. I said “How can I resist? I love both these things. Women AND gaming, I can’t lose!” What I received was a well researched book listing the positive effects gaming has on women who get involved.
From The Sims to Second Life, this book explains the positive life lessons to be had in becoming involved in the community of creative design within a gaming platform.
If you are looking for a book to inform you of some interesting, researched facts, and interesting real-life stories, this is the book for you.
If you are looking for cute girls who happen to be holding pwning your face in the latest first-person shooter, this is not the book for you.
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|Great reasearch of learning that goes on around videogames,
The authors concentrate, not precisely on women that play The Sims, but in what is happening around the game. With theory about learning and videogames, they narrate the experience of several women and their experiences that go beyond their gaming. They analyze communities that are formed around videogames (in this case, The Sims), that are places where experts can help novices. They compare school to this type of communities and they give some ideas of how students/gamers can learn.
The chose the experiences of different types of women (from teenagers to a 65 year old woman who is sick) and each story shows an important aspect of learning.
In my own investigations I had concentrated in learning that goes on while gamers are playing, but this book opened a new horizon: I was able to see gamers as designers that adquire skill using 21st century digital learning tools to create artifacts and/or cultural products outside the game. It also gives a view of how women gamers play and what they do with videogames.
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