Ludica

Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat

Ludica is very pleased to announce that Beyond Barbie® and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming, Edited by Yasmin B. Kafai, Carrie Heeter, Jill Denner and Jennifer Y. Sun, and featuring Ludica's "Towards a Virtuous Circle" has been released. We want to offer our thanks and congratulations to the editors, who spent two years collecting, editing and refining the contents of this sequel to the 1998 classic on gender and gaming, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat. The book so cram-packed with great articles and takes the discourse to another level: we highly encourage anyone interested in the topic to grab a copy!

New Study Shows Repeated Video Game Playing Eliminates Sex Discrepancy in Spatial Skills

A new study from the University of Toronto shows that, while girls and women test lower on certain spatial skills, playing action-based video games over a period of time eliminates the discrepancy:

Playing Video Games Reduces Sex Differences In Spatial Skills"

This is very interesting because most of the prior studies seem to indicate that the discrepancy is a biological "fait accomplit" that creates a a barrier of entry. To the contrary, Spence at al seem to be showing that with practice, the brain can actually be rewired to improve in these areas.

This leads to an inevitable, and probably unprovable, research question: Are these differences genetically predisposed or are they "prewired" though socio-cultural and cognitive input in childhood? Is it possible that the activities boys are encouraged to do, including video game playing, wire their minds differently? If anyone is aware of any research on this, let us know!

Geekgirls rule!

Our friend Tony Kolz sent us this fantastic article about Teenage Girls dominating the web. This flies in the face of all the assumptions people make that girls are not comfortable with technologies. It seems that where communication and self-expression is concerned, girls rule!

QE II A Wii Fan

Ludica is very happy to report that a story in the British edition of People Magazine has revealed that Queen Elizabeth II is a Wii fan. Apparently, the "Q Wii N," as they are now calling her, has developed a taste for the Nintendo Wii, particular Wii bowling. If this isn't an indication that the Wii has hit the broadest mass market imaginable, we don't know what is!

This Just in: First ever "Person of gender" to be included in GDC Game Design Challenge

We are very happy to report that we have just been informed that for the first time in history, there will be at least ONE "person of gender" included in this year's Game Design Challenge at GDC. Congratulations to Brenda Brathwaite for this groundbreaking accomplishment, and kudos to Eric Zimmerman and the GDC organizers for doing the right thing. Now if the designers featured can be representative of the popuation overall (i.e., 52% female), then we will have ARRIVED!