Abstract :
Digital games have typically been considered a male leisure activity; however,
recent statistics indicate that increasing numbers of females are now playing
games. The purpose of this review is to investigate how the influx of girl gamers
and the emergence of female-oriented game design can inform instructional
design for the construction of interactive learning environments. This review
presents an overview of digital games and gender, an outline of girl games and
‘pink’ software, a discussion of the controversy of girl games, and a review and
discussion of the research and implications of female-oriented game design for
instructional design. The goal of this review is to examine the influx of girl
gamers into a male pastime and to analyse the implications of this for the
design of interactive learning environments.
