Posts Tagged ‘play’

55% Of UK Kids Own Real Toys For Online Worlds

Sunday, December 4th, 2011

A new study by UK-based research company Dubit has found that 55% of British kids own at least one toy that interacts with an online world such as Club Penguin, Poptropica, Moshi Monsters, Webkinz or Build-A-BearVille. Seventy three percent of the 500 children surveyed had played one of the aforementioned online games.

Attracting a global membership of over 150 million kids and having been played by 50% of the children surveyed, Disney’s Club Penguin is currently the most popular online world. Thirty two percent of children surveyed had purchased one of the site’s accompanying toys which unlock in game features such as new characters.

Described as “a cross between a puzzle solving game, combined with Tamagotchi and Furby”, the web’s second most popular kids’ virtual world, Moshi Monsters, has attracted over 50 million users since its launch in 2008. The site has no advertising and no in-game purchases, however, more than a quarter of British kids owned a Moshling toy or Moshi Monster and forty seven percent of children surveyed by Dubit had visited the site.

With the Toy Retailers Association recently naming the Moshi Monsters “Moshling Treehouse” amongst what it expects to be the 12 most popular toys in the UK this Christmas and the the company also boasting a successful new spin-off magazine, there is clear evidence of the increasing popularity of children’s online games spreading to other media. The Moshi Monsters magazine now has the largest circulation of any children’s magazine in the UK.

Although on a relatively small scale, this study is a good indication of how kids’ gaming habits have evolved over the past few years. According to Peter Robinson, Head of Research at Dubit: “Children are spending more time playing in virtual worlds and now those worlds are becoming part of their offline playtime.”

These rapidly-growing virtual worlds are steadily taking on TV and film’s long-established dominance of the licensed toy market, as Peter Robinson concludes: ”Today’s kids are platform agnostic and don’t care where their favorite stories and characters come from. It used to be the case that books or TV shows launched characters and toys, but now online entertainment is proving just as important.”

PlayScience on Boys and Technology (at the Boy Scouts National Youth Forum)

Monday, April 25th, 2011

Here is a (very) edited clip from Alison’s talk at the Boy Scouts National Youth Forum in Nov. 2010, where she discusses what we need to understand about boys and technology today, and what those things can mean for creating media with a positive impact.

PlayScience @ The Conference on the Value of Play (February 7-8, Clemson, SC)

Sunday, February 6th, 2011

PlayScience will be presenting a poster at the Conference on the Value of Play this Tuesday. Here’s more info:

Poster: Game On! Promoting Physical Activity Through Virtual Play
Tuesday, February 7, 5:30-6:30pm (Clyde V. Madren Conference Center, Clemson University)

Our poster examines how four digital media products incorporate behavior change theories to increase physical activity. These products seek to address concerns of childhood sedentary behavior within the framework of kids’ current play patterns.

PlayScience on Gender & Gaming

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Here is a great article in (the always awesome) Gamasutra about gender and gaming that features our LabReport, “Digital Natives: The Gender Issue.”

Makedo: Connectors for the Stuff Around You

Monday, November 15th, 2010

Makedo is a connector system that turns junk into toys. Using the connectors, kids can easily join materials such as cardboard, plastic, and fabric to make new objects or structures. And the best part is… they’re reusable!

The Makedo connector system is made up of three simple parts including a connector which clamps materials together, a hinge which can pivot freely or be locked into place, and a construction tool that can punch holes and cut through various types of cardboard without the risk of injury. Since there is no limit to the building materials that you use, the possibilities of what you can make with Makedo are endless!

How to makedo – extended from MAKEDO on Vimeo.

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Stuart Brown on Play

Friday, November 12th, 2010

PLAY is often denigrated in our achievement-oriented society. Kids are taught that they can play only after they finish other tasks. Adults are forgetting how to play and to make time for it.

In this TED talk, Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, describes the neuroscience of play and its importance across the developmental trajectory. Through examples of animal play and research findings, Brown makes a compelling argument that human play is the product of evolution and serves a biological purpose.

By diminishing play opportunities, we hinder our own well-being and development.

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Boy Scouts Value Developing Good Video Game Habits

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

Historically known for helping boys build character, develop citizenship, and grow mentally and physically through outdoor activities, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) now recognizes the importance of helping kids develop good digital habits. A video games belt loop/pin has been added to the cub scouts collection.

In addition to helping kids form good video game habits, the belt loop/pin requirements highlight the potential for video games to bring families together and to empower kids to become leaders during game PLAY.

Developing good video game habits has joined the ranks of esteemed subject areas and skills, such as “citizenship,” “good manners,” and “wildlife conservation.”

To learn more about the video games belt loop and pin, visit the BSA’s website.

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Virtual World vs. Natural World

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

PLAY AGAIN is a new documentary that unplugs six media savvy teenagers and takes them on their first wilderness adventure. Through the voices of the children and leading experts in the field, the film documents the wonder that arises from spending time in nature and examines the consequences of a childhood without those experiences.

PLAY AGAIN: http://www.groundproductions.com/playagain/index.php

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Play = Learning = Higher Test Scores

Sunday, September 12th, 2010

Even though research shows children learn best through play, our society continues to devalue its importance. Pressured to produce high test scores, schools tell teachers to cut down on play and drill, drill, drill.

Flash-card learning turns children into passive learners and reduces them to parrots. Play, on the other hand, provides children with the opportunity to be active learners and shape their own education. An adult’s role during play should be to scaffold and support the learning process rather than to direct it.

While children who memorize information may sometimes perform well on standardized tests, they lack the ability to transfer information and demonstrate true understanding. And, guess what? Children in play-oriented classrooms have statistically higher test scores.

The following video highlights the play crisis in classrooms across the country and discusses why rushing children academically is neither developmentally appropriate nor beneficial for whole child development.

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Building Constructive Family Play: PlayScience on Families, Ethics, & Game Design

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

A recent blog post by Henry Jenkins interviews Karen Schrier and two of her colleagues regarding her book, Ethics and Game Design:Teaching Values through Play. (A discount form for the book is available here, if you are interested in purchasing it.)

We have a chapter in the book, “Family Fun & Fostering Values,” with one of our fave colleagues, Jordana Drell. In this chapter, we discuss the interplay between video and computer games and values discourse within families. We do a bit of theorizing and talking about the role that video games can play in values discourse within the family. But most importantly, we point to future opportunities for engaging values and ethics discourse within the family context through gaming.

For us, one of the key questions we keep coming back to is, “How can we create better co-entertainment experiences for families?” Sure, the Wii is a great equalizing platform for family game play, but how do you develop a truly awesome co-entertainment driven game experience that works across age groups? How can we use the additional connectivity offered by the influx of netbooks into the home to create synchronous, multiplayer cooperative (or competitive) games that families can do together? And what about asychronous play patterns using the computer and mobile devices, where kids and parents can log on throughout the day to have small moments of connected play?

Just some of the things we think about on a daily basis. Looking forward to seeing some of the great answers that the industry can come up with!

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