Raising a different kind of gamers
How do families design and program video-games together
It is not a surprise that youth are spending significant time playing computer, and video games, with 97% of children ages 12–17 playing computer, web, portable, or console games. Moreover, we have witnessed significant growth in youth participation in online gaming communities such as Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite (141, 120, and 80 million monthly active players).
Parents are now at an impasse, not knowing how best to mediate their children’s consumption of this new media. One promising avenue is to channel youth’s interest in games to coding. Popular platforms such as Scratch or Make code allow young people to play games coded by other young people or program their games. However, while several efforts have explored how best to engage youth in creating and not only consuming games, very few have considered the role parents could play in this process.
This motivated us to run a 4-week in-home programming workshop with families. We recruited 15 families from 10 different USA states with different technological backgrounds and levels of exposure to technology. Families did…
