Digital Playgrounds: The Hidden Politics of Children's Online Play Spaces, Virtual Worlds, and Connected Games

Digital Playgrounds explores the key developments, trends, debates, and controversies that have shaped children's commercial digital play spaces over the past two decades. It argues that children's online playgrounds, virtual worlds, and connected games are more than mere sources of fun and diversion; they serve as the sites of complex negotiations of power between children, parents, developers, politicians, and other actors with a stake in determining what, how, and where children's play unfolds.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 372 pages
\n Publication date: 22 July 2021
\n Publisher: University of Toronto Press
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Over the past two decades, the landscape of children's commercial digital play spaces has undergone significant transformations, driven by a multitude of key developments, trends, debates, and controversies. Digital Playgrounds delves into these intricate aspects, contending that children's online playgrounds, virtual worlds, and connected games are far more than mere sources of entertainment; rather, they serve as the arenas for complex power negotiations among children, parents, developers, politicians, and other stakeholders who shape the nature, scope, and location of children's play.

To explore these dynamics, Digital Playgrounds employs an innovative, transdisciplinary framework that combines science and technology studies, critical communication studies, and children's cultural studies. By focusing on the contents and contexts of actual technological artefacts, the discussion seeks to provide a foundational understanding of the meanings and politics of children's digital play.

The research conducted within the framework encompasses a wide range of studies on digital playgrounds. These studies examine various playgrounds designed and marketed to children aged six to twelve years, shedding light on the problematic tendencies that hinder the effective support of children's culture, rights, and, ironically, play. Through these insights, Digital Playgrounds lays the groundwork for a critical reevaluation of existing approaches to regulation and best practices within the industries involved in creating children's digital play spaces.

In its pursuit of a more inclusive and equitable digital playground, Digital Playgrounds advocates for the reimagining of children's online play spaces as a vital new form of public sphere. It emphasizes the need to prioritize children's rights and digital citizenship within these spaces, recognizing their potential to foster creativity, social interaction, and learning. By advocating for the creation of safe, inclusive, and age-appropriate environments, Digital Playgrounds aims to empower children to thrive in the digital age and contribute positively to society.

In conclusion, Digital Playgrounds offers a comprehensive exploration of the complex dynamics that shape children's commercial digital play spaces. Through its innovative framework and rigorous research, it sheds light on the problematic tendencies that hinder the effective support of children's culture, rights, and play. By advocating for the reimagining of children's online play spaces as a crucial new form of public sphere, Digital Playgrounds aims to empower children to thrive in the digital age and contribute positively to society.

\n Weight: 566g\n
Dimension: 152 x 227 x 26 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781442615564\n \n