Interesting articles of lately
I’m cleaning out tabs on my browser and have articles of interest…
* Warren Spector on the Disney Epic Mickey title for Wii (from Kotaku) Art is pretty crazy. Looks to me as though it’ll feel like playing Fantasia
* “Why an iPhone could actually be good for your 3-year-old” (from Boston Globe) Has a good video of kids with iPhone, too!
* “Developmental Stage Select” (from Escapist) by Neils Clark, author of Game Addiction. Basic overview of development and role of games.
* “The Hidden Playground” (from Escapist) Discussion of how kids aren’t playing outside as often any more and how games like The Hidden Park (iPhone) might help reclaim outdoor play.
NPD Reports 82% of kids 2-17 play games
“Among all kids in the U.S. ages 2-17, 82 percent, or 55.7 million, are current gamers. Of these gamers, 9.7 million are ages 2-5, representing the smallest segment, while 12.4 million are ages 9-11, and represent the largest segment.
“At 10.6 hours per week, gamers ages 12-14 are spending the most time playing video games, with the time spent playing dropping off among older teens, ages 15-17. Teens 15-17 and females are the groups that are most likely to report spending less time gaming and playing online this year versus last year.”
It’s based on survey responses for 5000 kids and parents from September 2009.
Tickle Tap Apps from zinc Roe are available for all you parents of preschoolers with iPhones or iPod touches. I consulted with them on these apps and have been so impressed with their work! Nevermind that I think touch-screen games are great for kids. (It’s cognitevely hard for kids to connect the idea that moving a mouse makes stuff happen on a screen that’s 2-3 feet away. It’s much easier to just touch the object directly on the screen instead.)
This video shows some of the apps, but there are also videos of each of the available games on YouTube as well. Just search Tickle Tap Apps.
The Amanda Project
I’m obsessed with books, particularly young adult novels, which some might consider weird given my chosen career of making interactive products. Still, books are cool. So I was particularly excited to discover The Amanda Project. It’s planned to be a series of novels, but it’s also an interactive community where users can post their own stories, some of which will become parts of the published novels.
The premise for collaborative story telling is great. Amanda disappeared, but she left clues with her friends, including you and me. So now we can share the clues she left with us as well as read the other clues and piece together the mystery. Nice, huh?
Their first book is available in stores and for free online. Read Invisible I. (Or better yet, buy the book and support a great group!)
Teenreads.com Teen Survey
Teenreads.com (which I highly recommend, by the way, as a great source for young adult novels) released the results of a survey of nearly 2900 of their readers ages 11 to 18. By their own admission, the respondents are teens who are already hooked on reading, so it doesn’t provide info about how to draw kids to reading. Still, some interesting stuff and definitely worth a read. Here’s some highlights:
Social Networking
71% use facebook (26% more than once a day, 14% daily)
42% use MySpace (8% more than once a day, 7% once a day)
25.7% have a twitter account (6% use it more than once a day, 2.8% once a day)
Television Use
25% use a DVR regularly, 15% sometimes, 59% never (could this be a sign of the book-loving respondents’ bias?)
25% watch 4-5 hours a week, 22% 6-8 hours, 27% 8+ hours, 22% 3 hours or less
Games
77% play games online
What kids today are saying, at least according to two reports
I’m always on the look out for more information about kids – what they like to do, how they spend their time, and so on. Two recent reports, while not specifically about kids and games, provide some interesting information. All told, the two serve to remind us of the role of technology in children’s lives as well as the importance of children’s immediate social surroundings.
1. Smartypants Young Love Surveys Children’s Popular Brands
Smartypants released survey results of the brands children ages 6-12 love best. Topping the list of 100 is Nintendo Wii and DS. It’s a fairly technology heavy list. I’m not sure if that’s because it’s an accurate representation of kids’ interests or if they distributed the survey digitally, which could attract a larger proportion of technology-loving respondents. Still, it was nearly 5000 kids, so that’s got to count for something!
Incredibly scary was the amount of the list that’s food brands. (At least it’s scary to me…) But it’s also interesting that technology has a larger presence than television networks and programs.
The main technology players on the list are
1: Wii
2: DS
12: iPod
14: Playstation
22: Nick.com
31: PSP
36: YouTube
42: Xbox
50: Mario
51: iTunes
54: iPhone
65: Google
76: GameCube (surprised me!)
96: Nintendogs
The tv networks and commercial properties on the list are
7: Nickelodeon
13: Disney Channel
17: Cartoon Network
35: Spongebob Squarepants
46: iCarly
75: Animal Planet
84: LEGO
95: Monopoly
Read the full list at http://www.asksmartypants.com/younglove/Young_Love_Top_100.pdf
2. Highlights State of the Kid 2009
The good folks at Highlights for Children (my old stomping ground) recently released the results of a reader survey. 845 kids (ranging from 5-12) returned surveys that were bound into the March 2009 issue or answered the survey online.
The questions are more about childhood than about any specific interest area and the report is written in such a way that still promotes the magazine, but it’s still a nice peek into kids’ lives.
The highlights?
- Kids overwhelmingly said their biggest problem is schoolwork, homework, and tests (23.4%). Then comes social issues, such as dealing with parents (8.1%), siblings (8.7%), and friends (7.3%).
- Outside their family, kids admire their friends (28.4%) and their teachers (17.2%).
- If kids had an extra hour in the day, 36.3% would play, have fun, or play video games.
Various research studies have shown that at age 3, children have around 15-20 people in their social network, and it’s mostly caregivers. By age 9, they have around 40 people in their network. The growth is mostly from the addition of friends. The questions Highlights asked help remind us that children worry about social issues and that their social situations can also be an important influence.
On a side note, it’s also fascinating to read what kids would tell President Obama (20.9% would tell him he’s liked) as well as what they want grown-ups to know about being a kid today (28.9% said being a kid is hard and 21.3% say being a kid is fun). They peppered the report with actual entries from kids, which is just plain fun to read.
GDC China, Here I Come!
I’ll be presenting the Little Hands, Foul Moods, and Runny Noses: The Research You Should Know When Making Games for Kids at GDC China in Shanghai on this coming Tuesday. The English slides from the GDC presentation in San Francisco in March are online, too.
What I’ve been reading lately… young adult books
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins – It’s the sequel to Hunger Games. Is it the best story ever told? Probably not. It’s kind of like Survivor meets the future dystopian society. But she can really tell a story. In both Hunger Games and Catching Fire, I couldn’t put it down.
Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley – What an amazingly beautifully designed novel! The design is great, the concept is great, the story is fun, but the copy-editing was not so hot. I stumbled a few times when errors occurred. Just makes me sad when it’s such a fun idea. I’d still totally recommend reading it. Wouldn’t it be a total nightmare to die during high school and discover that you still have to go to school AND that not all ghost teenagers are automatically your friend?
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins – A friend recommended Collins’ earlier work. I only read the first in the series. It’s for younger readers, but her storytelling abilities still shine! With all the bugs, bats, and spiders, I’d guess this would appeal to boys. Actually, it’d make a great video game…
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray – Part turn of the century (20th, not 21st), part Gossip Girl, and part supernatural thriller. I’ve just downloaded the remaining two books in the trilogy for the flight to China. Historical sci-fi with cliques! So fun!
Article about game ratings and kids
Nice, brief article describing some of the strengths and weaknesses of game ratings. Particularly interesting to me is the point that just because a game is rated 3+, it doesn’t mean that it’s actually playable by a three year old!
Even more from the International Gamers Survey
I’ll spare the graphs and just list the numbers. (Again, caveat is that the estimates may be on the high side, but it’s hard to tell without knowing more about their methods etc.)
% of U.S. population that plays MMOs and Virtual Worlds
26% of 8-12 y.o. boys
27% of 8-12 y.o. girls
37% of 13-19 y.o. boys
24% of 13-19 y.o. girls
% of U.S. population that plays games on mobile phones
23% of 8-12 y.o. boys
17% of 8-12 y.o. girls
18% of 13-19 y.o. boys
30% of 13-19 y.o. girls
Fun to look at the international numbers, too. Mobile and virtual worlds are definitely on their way!
