interviews on gender differences

Dave, a 56 year old man plays the Wii system about twice a month and his computer games about twice a week. He plays bowling, Mario kart, put put golf, and Rayman Raving Rabbits on his his Wii system but mystery, card, and puzzle games on his computer Shay, a 43 year old woman plays Solitare and Bigfish games on her computer everyday but only plays the Wii system about once a month and likes the same games as Dave. Kyle, a 27 year old guy plays his Xbox 360 every other day and plays Need 4 speed, Grid, Halo 3, and Rainbow 6 Vegas. He never plays computer games. Denise, a 51 year old woman plays Munch's Oddysee, Sims, and Madagascar on the Xbox with her daughter about every couple days. She also plays Runescape and Girl Sense on her computer every day. This gave me a little more clarification on the the gender roles, violence, stereotypes and isolation when it comes to video games.

I remember as a child my brother and I would play Mario Kart for hours until our eyes couldn't see straight anymore. We would get friends to come play with us and we would have competitions to see who was the best. I played this game just as much as my brother did. In Got Game, they talk about how brothers and sisters will sit in the same room and play video games for hours but the sister most of the time, is just watching. I think this is true more now days because of the types of games that are out. When I was a kid, they didn't have the Pet Shop, or animal care games, so as a girl I played what they boys played and loved it. I would have to agree, as Got Game stated, that the girls are going to play the girl games because it would be weird to find a teenage boy dressing dolls.

I think the game, Playing with Fire-Trouble in Super Macho World is a great way for Nintendo to get up to speed with today. Yes, it is great to see that they kept her classic pink dress but does she need to have emotional powers? In a sense, they could have used other objects as powers, maybe something that symbolized the girl, instead of emotions that everyone has. I don't' see any sexism with this game, it is just another way that a game can be played and the reality of the gaming world.

I know for a fact, that imagination is key to a child's development but should we worry about the violence part of it in video games? As a mom of a three year old, I will not allow shooting games that hurt or kill people, in my house in the future. Children need to play games that are clean, safe and educational. I certainly don't think that video games had anything to do with the violence in the real world because violence started before video games even existed. Got Game talks about how juvenile crime dropped sharply when violence in video games was most popular. Our violence only escalated because of news media and that's what they cover more of in their daily reports. Violence goes back to how the kids were raised, their surroundings and peer pressure.

My biggest problem about video games is the lack of child interaction in social activities. I have a niece and a nephew who are addicted to their DS system and anytime we are at family gatherings they are on their systems the whole time. If you ask them anything they are rude because how dare you interrupt their game. I think that kids need to have other activities so when they grow up they know how to interact on a social level. Got Game says that video games have become a part of our culture which it surely has, but we need to enrich our children's lives with other things too.

I agree with the all the readings we did this week and I don't think that video games have anything to do with Gender roles, violence, isolation or stereotypes. With the interviews I did, it just shows me once again that we choose what we like when it comes to video games and age has nothing to do with it. I like the same games as Dave and that's a 20+ year difference.