Introduction to the gender problematic in games and IT

17Mar09

 

This is the introduction to my dissertation, which discusses the academic context of the rest of my essay as well as establishing some key points in the gender problematic as pertaining to IT and games.

Both the computer and videogames appear to be contested sites, appropriated and dominated by men. Only 22% of computer science graduates in 2000 were women, women (as well as ethnic and religious minorities) associate negative affect with computer use to a greater degree than white males do and are more anxious when engaging with videogames. Finally, only 8-10% of the programmers and designers in the videogame industry are female. (Lemons & Parzinger 2007, p3; Jackson et al 2001, p366-367; Kafai et al 2008, pXX; Brown et al, p803-804; Kerr 2006, p92; Kerr 2003, p2-3; Krotoski 2004, p12-13)

While the computer is not perceived as gendered, computer mastery is culturally constructed as a male domain. Within educational institutions, the computer is associated with mathematics and science, thus acquiring “some of the traditional qualities of differentiated interest amongst boys and girls” (Giddens et al 1994, p218). Some argue that the computer is a “product of masculine intent and masculine desire”, a “logical machine” in “opposition to the emotion and intuition that’s most often associated with women in our culture” (an essentialist notion that will be discussed later) that is cast as masculine. The computer is thus established as masculine in the sense that it represents “the negation of the feminine”.  (Jenkins & Cassel 1998, p159-160; Giddens et al 1994, p224)

Filed under: Cognitive theory, Field-dependence/independence, Gender and IT, Gender-inclusive game design   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Cognitive theory, feminism, Game design, sociology

Presenting information pertaining to dynamics in terms of aesthetics

22Feb09

This suggested method for reinforcing learning in field-dependents is only part of the solution. The evaluation UI must be complemented by mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics that present the salient points of each dynamic in clear terms. In other words, the designer needs to carefully consider how the user will understand the structuring of the information provided. For instance, introducing many similar concepts (the overwhelming amounts of skills, abilities and attributes prevalent in most CRPGs) that the user has to distinguish between and make informed choices about without any clear implication of what the outcome of these choices will be in aesthetic rather than mechanical terms must be avoided (Witkin et al, 1977).

Filed under: Cognitive theory, Field-dependence/independence, Game design, Gender-inclusive game design   |  Leave a Comment

Friendly advice: Field-dependent user performance evaluation

20Feb09

My hypothesis is that field-dependent videogame users find themselves demotivated by the often unambigiously negative and unnuanced feedback provided by most videogames. My suggestion is that simply awarding points or a grade for good performance and presenting the player with a fail-state when the player’s ability does not match the difficulty or complexity of the task presented by the game is a bad idea.

Instead, offering flexible fail-states with little punishment and plenty of verbose feedback, perhaps presented in context of a social simulation or social network, is more motivating. Verbose feedback allows field-dependent users to amend their conceptual model of the game’s mechanics and dynamics in a much more organized and directed fashion, as per Witkin’s findings regarding preferred mode of learning.

This essay will discuss design patterns that present the user with concrete information about the abstract systems the user is interacting with through a game UI.

Filed under: Cognitive theory, Field-dependence/independence, Game design, Gender-inclusive game design   |  Leave a Comment

The social learner: privileging field-dependent learning styles via meta-narratives

13Feb09

The previous discussion of field-dependent learning styles grew out of its shell in attempting to discuss field-dependent learning styles, game design and motivation for media consumption. A lot of the points raised in the previous attempt were interesting, particularly the discussion of what actually constitutes “social orientation”. Is social orientation real-life social situations, or portrayals of situations where the audience’s subject position attempts to resolve social (that is, interpersonal) conflicts through social mechanics.

What follows is an attempt to concretize and relate motivational styles and learning styles directly to game design patterns. Of course, since no-one appears to have related FDI to game design before, the learning styles are collected from studies into education.

Filed under: Cognitive theory, Field-dependence/independence, Game design   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Cognitive theory, Game design

Forests, not trees: field-dependent learning styles in games

11Feb09

Witkin’s cognitive theory of field dependence-independence describes a high-level cognitive control which determines the mode of interpretation and organization of the perceptual field and working memory. My assumption is that field-dependence/independence is related to other constructs in sociology and cognitive theory, namely male reason and androcentrism, and that modern videogames privilege not only male perspectives but also the male cognitive style. Males are generally more field-independent than women, a difference which may be biological but which is almost certainly also amplified as a result of social conditioning. My goal, then, is to reinvent certain patterns in game design to appeal to a more field-dependent mode of learning and performing.

Filed under: Cognitive theory, Field-dependence/independence, Game design, Gender-inclusive game design   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Cognitive theory, Game design, sociology

Pragmatism, not idealism?

03Feb09

I’m puzzled, apparently because I trust the natural sciences too much. You see, I’m writing a dissertation on subverting male reason in game and interface design patterns and I’m stumped as to what framework for interpreting gender construction I’m really arguing in favour of. On the one hand, we’ve got the radical feminist framework derived from queer theory by Judith Butler, which holds that all gender construction is performative. This is a beautiful thought. It excludes essentialism, by arguing that our identities are defined by our social and cultural circumstances rather than innate, natural patterns of behavior.

My problem is that it all sounds a bit too utopian. To me, the most direct counter-point to the radical feminist view on gender construction is evolutionary psychology which suggests that the mind has evolved alongside our societies, and that the mind is composed differently in men and women because they served very different social roles in ancient societies. Those ancient hunter/gatherer societies are supposed to have lasted a lot longer than our recorded history, and may be the time in which the period where our minds evolved into the highly socialized beings we are today. You could say the mold by which the modern brain is shaped is the result of our evolution from nomad tribes to the first stable agricultural societies that featured organized trade and the first model of the modern economic system.

That’s a slightly less comforting thought: That somehow the mode in which most people (whoever they are, let’s just call the statistic median “most people”) behave is part of not just our social but also biological make-up. That somehow sounds more in tune with what one expects from hard science, doesn’t it? Something inevitable, like a rock falling because it’s dropped, being concretized and somehow even more proven by by the fact that it’s concrete.

Filed under: Game design, Gender-inclusive game design   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Cognitive theory, evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology, feminism, Game design, sociology