(NB this paper has now been published, with the following reference:
Williamson, B & Facer, K (2004). More than 'just a game': the implications for schools of children's computer games comunities, Education, Communication and Information, Vol 4, No 2/3, November, 253-268.)
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INTRODUCTION 'We need to overcome the divide which sees some playing games while others are developing the skills that will equip them for the 21st century.' David Blunkett (quoted in McGavin 1997) Since David Blunkett described playing video games as the digital equivalent of 'fiddling while Rome is burning', there has been a distinct change in the attitude of many in the education sector towards computer games. Indeed, today there is a growing interest in the potential application of these environments to formal educational objectives. This interest emanates from a range of different sectors: the educational software industry, for example, and indeed some within the mainstream games industry, are keen to exploit the potential of computer games to expand the edutainment software market (GDA 2002; Buckingham & Scanlon 2003); policy makers, concerned at the seemingly low levels of interest and engagement in formal education, are supporting investigations of the potential of mainstream games to teach existing educational objectives (Becta 2001); certain educators now argue that games play, in and of itself, constitutes a new form of digital literacy characterised by new approaches to dealing with information and representation (Prensky 2001); and centres for exploring the potential application of computer games to learning are proliferating around the country (see, for example, units dedicated to this area at Abertay University, London Metropolitan University and the Institute of Education).
To date, however, much of the interest in children's computer games play in education has focused on the abilities that children might be developing through their interactions with the games interface. Inkpen (1995), Higgins (2000) and Whitebread (1997), for example, have argued that there is evidence that individual games can support the development of logical thinking and problem solving. Wegerif (2002) and Prensky (2001), amongst others, have argued that children's brains and thinking are being transformed through repeated games play. Further, many of the in-roads that computer gaming has made into the educational software market have been in the appropriation of features of the games interface for existing educational resources (Buckingham & Scanlon 2003); and many of the policy initiatives have been focused on the introduction of games software itself into the classroom (TEEM 2002).
From policy, industry and educational research perspectives, then, much of the new-found interest and acceptance of computer games is focused primarily on exploiting the potential of the games interface in schools. What we know little about, however, is how children's existing computer games play is situated within social contexts and practices, and how these practices, rather than the games software on which they are centred, might provide insights of relevance to more formal educational settings.
Indeed, existing studies of children's media use would caution us against too narrow a focus on the interactions between child and screen alone. Moss (1993), for example, reports in her study of children's viewing of horror films, that many of the children who were able to talk eloquently about particular scenes in these movies had never, in fact, watched the film in question. 'Knowledge' about such popular artefacts then, cannot simply be assumed to develop through interaction with them, but is mediated, motivated by and circulated within peer group cultures. One early study of computer games players, moreover, indicated that half of all young people who spent time in videogames arcades weren't actually playing games at all - rather they were using the arcade as a social gathering space (Greenfield 1984). Tobin's (1998) study argued that boys' gaming was not simply a process of 'playing the game' but embedded in social interactions. He pointed out that boys were drawing on a wide friendship group, and were in fact increasing these friendship groups both physically and on the web, in order to be able to become 'expert' games players. Suss et al (2001) argue that participation in media-rich cultures is characterised by the development of exchange networks amongst groups of children as a response to the high costs of media, demonstrating themselves as canny media consumers. More recently, Gee (2003) has suggested that young people playing games coalesce into informal 'affinity groups' with shared interests in games, in which games knowledge and expertise are shaped, enriched and expanded through the interconnections of all members of the communal network.
Much of this work has to date been carried out in the fields of media, cultural, or youth studies. This paper is an attempt to address this phenomenon within an educational framework, to ask whether it is really only the games interface, rather than the social practices that surround games play, that offers potential benefits to the formal education community.
METHODOLOGY
The paper will draw on research carried out as part of the ESRC-funded ScreenPlay and InterActive projects and on a textual analysis of the features of games magazines and online environments. The ScreenPlay project, conducted between 1998 and 2000 by one of the authors and colleagues at the Universities of Bristol, Cardiff and Newport, was designed as an interdisciplinary exploration of children's use of computers in the home (see Facer et al, 2003). The project drew on a range of different theoretical perspectives, including socio-cultural psychology, sociology and media and cultural studies. The project attempted to 'follow the user', to examine the significance of computers within children's daily lives from their own perspectives. Only the data relating to games will be discussed here 1. In addition to this data, we will also draw upon a recent survey conducted by one of the authors as part of the ESRC InterActive Education project. In this project 1,818 young people in Bristol were surveyed as to their use of a range of digital technologies both in and outside school 2.
Finally, a number of online games environments, discussion forums and games play magazines were surveyed and textual analysis carried out to identify the pedagogic features of these resources for learning 'games literacy'. These media were selected to take a critical approach to the kinds of resources named in the ScreenPlay and InterActive projects data, and to identify the ways in which they might 'model' for young people both the experience of playing games, and critically evaluating games. Six magazines were chosen in October 2002, based on their appeal to the young teenager to young adult demographic and their coverage of the main videogames consoles available in the UK 3. The magazines were analysed as media artefacts operating within distinct lexical and iconographic codes that have identifiably
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