Lessons Learned With Girls, Games, and Design

Abstract

Girls have long been dismissed and trivialized by the game industry. The Girls' Game Movement of the 1990s aimed to create games specifically for girls, but ultimately struggled to reach consensus on whether to make games catering to the feminine content that girls expressed interest in, or whether to challenge gender stereotypes and guide the ways that girls engage with games. Other research-based programs and interventions to engage girls in game design have faced similar difficulties, attempting to find balance between respecting girls' values and empowering them as designers. This paper offers a review of these programs, highlighting similarities in findings about what girls value in games and design, and synthesizing shared challenges and struggles. Analyzing past programs can be invaluable to contemporary educators, scholars, and designers looking to engage girls with game design and technology.