How Gender Differences Who is today's girl?
ADVENTUROUS, SMART,
COMPETITIVE To understand why girls were being left out of the rapidly advancing technology industry, Brenda Laurel, a renowned 20-year entertainment software and research veteran, undertook a two-and-a-half year, intensive research initiative with Interval Research Corporation in 1992. With funding from Interval and a team of senior researchers from Interval and consultants Cheskin + Masten / ImageNet, Laurel led a groundbreaking study of play and gender differences among children ages 7-12 and of girls' interest in a usage of technology. Purple Moon research methodology Following an exhaustive literature and data review, the researchers spent thousands of hours interviewing girls and boys in nationwide "friendship pairs." Additionally, they interviewed the country's leading experts in play, gender differences and gaming, as well as teachers, play supervisors, scout leaders, arcade managers, computer game retailers, camp counselors and others who had direct contact with children. From this, the researchers developed the first comprehensive profile of girls, which differed markedly from conventional wisdom, and identified a void in the interactive entertainment market for girls. Guided by their complete and unique understanding of girls and girls' play motivations, Laurel and her team set out to develop the first truly meaningful interactive entertainment experiences for girls. Hundreds of additional interviews were then conducted with girls. The findings directly shaped character development, gameplay, artistic style, story lines, and the branding of an entirely new breakthrough segment within the girls' entertainment category - "adventures for girls."
Six Misconceptions About Girls Girls don't play computer games Yes, they do. They just don't play computer games as much or in the same way as boys do. But girls play with them far more than they do with other "boy" toys, like cars or guns. One reason girls haven't played computer games more often is because traditionally the content has catered to boys' tastes. The few girl titles available have usually either been too juvenile or have lacked the type of challenges and play experiences girls enjoy. Girls don't like to fight Girls typically don't like physical violence depicted against other human characters, but they seem to have no problem bopping an animated mushroom creature on the head (or any other non-human "bad guy"). The fact is, girls simply find violence-driven games boring and not complex enough to engage their interests. Girls aren't competitive As a rule, girls have always been socially competitive, but their efforts tend to be more subtle and indirect than boys are. However, with the increasing involvement of girls in sports and the growing success of women in business, they have more role models demonstrating the benefits of healthy competitive drives and helping to make this an acceptable female trait. Girls need the computer to be "useful" True, girls often cite homework, report writing, and academic skill building as their reasons for using computers. However, girls are also typically quite interested in playing with computers. Favorite computer pastimes for girls include role playing games, adventure games, drawing, creative writing programs, skill building or educational games, problem solving, and clue-based games. Girls are too social to enjoy using a computer This may have been true when computers were not social tools. But with the advent of girls playing "single player" games together, multi-player games, the Internet, and e-mail, the computer is not exclusively for solitary play anymore. Also, girls are very adept at expanding the social uses of things (think about the telephone). Once they have ready access to computers and networks - and to relevant entertainment experiences created for them - social uses of computing will expand exponentially. Girls and boys compete differently Surprisingly, girls and boys are equally competitive - they are just different kinds of competitors. Girls assert social influence and structure relationships while boys seek to dominate and defeat. Although a girl's form of "competition" does not fit within the very narrow societal definition, it is important to recognize it as a valid and equally effective means to attaining goals.
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Research Overview
