Gaming Moms – Time, Play and Everyday Life

När jag gick igenom World of Warcraft-forum på jakt efter diskussioner om mammor hittade jag en överraskande men intressant post: Be din mamma rita the Lich King. Det finns verkligen en massa kreativa mödrar därute (och en del pappor, far/morföräldrar och småsystrar)! En del av bilderna är helt fantastiska! De är med all sannolikhet gjorda av personer som inte hade en aning om hur varelsen de skulle teckna ser ut men som utan knot ställer upp och görsom barnen önskar. Se länkarna nedan.

Looking for discussions about mothers on the World of Warcraft forums I ran into a surprising but very interesting post: Ask your mum to draw the Lich King. There are indeed creative mothers out their (as well as dads, grandparents and kid sisters)! Some of the pictures are truly fascinating!  They are obviously made by people who had no idea what the creature they were supposed to draw looks like but who nevertheless tried to fulfill their children’s requests. Here’s one link , here’s another and here’s a third.

The Technology Review, published by MIT, reports “girls now use more technology at the home than boys do. Coauthors Karen Pine, a professor at the University of Hertfordshire, in the U.K., and Robert Hart, of U.K.-based educational consultants Intuitive Media, also claim that mothers are more likely to lend a helping hand than fathers when these technologies fail.” The author, Brittany Sauser questions the findings.

This pressrelease says “The survey found that 94 per cent of the girls said that they used a computer or laptop compared with only 88 per cent of the boys. It also found that 50 per cent of children chose their mothers to help them to use new technologies, versus 22 per cent, which chose their fathers.”
Referring to aTechnology Review articlefrom January 2008, Sauser claims tech-savvy girls are going down in numbers not the other way around.

As Sauser points out, it is interesting to note is that they left out “gaming machines” and other gadgets and only accounted for pcs and laptops.

Robert Hart clarifies: “”It is clear from results that the Internet has gained a significant place in children’s daily lives. Almost all of the children surveyed use the Internet at home with their parents. Their mothers are particularly engaged with their homework and formal learning and take an interest in their online safety. Fathers join in to a lesser extent but encourage children with the fun aspects and help them with their hobbies.”

Sounds like business as usual?

DELTONA, FL (AP) Authorities say a central Florida 19-year-old threw a taco at his mother for unplugging his video game system. Check this little story here. We sigh.

37% av de vuxna amerikaner som surfar på internet äger en spelkonsoll ,skriver Aftonbladet och refererar till en undersökning gjord av Nielsen/Netratings. Vidare är sju av tio tv-spelsägare gifta och 66% har minst ett barn. I anslutning till artikeln finns möjlighet att ange hur mycket man själv spelar. Över 30% uppger att de spelar “Ofta, minst en gång om dagen”. Märkligt är att ett av alternativen är “Lagom, kanske en gång i veckan”. Varför skulle just en gång i veckan vara lagom?  De 10% som kryssat i detta alternativ kanske skulle vilja spela varje dag?

OK, so I adore my WiiFit board. And so do these mothers. Women and networks…always a winner.

Poor parents… and gaming again blamed for being addictive and causing murder! Check this little piece of news.

Parents always seem to come across the issue of “managing” their kids’ playing time. As we and other have noted, mothers in particular have had this role of “policing” the gameplay of the rest of the family, although we know that this is no longer the case, since mothers play a lot of games also. Our project deals a lot with mapping the status and workings of this everyday life practice. The following blog post is a hands-on “how to” guide for parents to control the access settings on a variety of gaming consoles – the Wii, the Xbox, the PS3 for example.

Ibland hittar man saker när man letar efter något helt annat, t ex denna artikel från 2007. Vd:n för Vivendi Games, Camilla Anger, menar att “Föräldrar bör skaffa sig större kunskaper om barnens spelande” och har därför satt samman en mammapanel. Mammorna har tillsammans spelat och diskuterat Crash of the Titans.

RPG that supposedly is not good for the gaming mom. She is assumed to be busy… Go figure.