Volume 1 Issue 1 16 March 1998

Introduction Gender Inequalities in Education Girls: Just Look Beautiful Teacher of the Year? Hammers Are For Boys and Needles Are For Girls Gender, Computing, and Kids The Gender Gap in the Computing Field Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow Whitmore High School: A Case Study of Computer Usage Part One: The Bright, White Boys' Lunch Club Part Two: Girls and Computer Science Boys Muscle Girls Out Girls Need Space Bennet School Computer Projects for Mother and Daughter Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science Computers and Technology: Differences In Gender Gender Bias In Educational Software Educational Software For Girls Purple Moon: Thanks but No Thanks for Rockett's New School Girl Tech - Not Girl Friendly Enough Her Interactive Broderbund - Classroom Software Done Right Computers In the Classroom: What is the Effect on the Gender Gap? Beyond Equal Access Last Words About the Authors References

Purple Moon: Thanks but No Thanks for Rockett's New School In regard to promoting girls' interest in computers, the founders of Purple Moon seem to have their hearts in the right place, but their software for girls does more harm than good. Purple Moon is ostensibly dedicated to "providing meaningful entertainment experiences for girls" through the development of software specifically for girls. Brenda Laurel, a researcher at Interval Corporation, led an effort that spanned multiple years and millions of dollars researching how girls play and what they want out of games. They concluded that girls compete differently and play differently than boys but that girls do want to play games on the computer. Accordingly, they have created the games Rockett's New School, Rockett's Tricky Decision (the sequel), and Secret Paths. In the case of the Rockett series, Purple Moon does not only perpetuate the stereotype that girls are only interested in boys, clothes, and being popular, but also perpetuates other stereotypes such as the snobby popular blond girl and the smart Asian with glasses. Rockett wails, "It's only the first day and already I'm blowing it fashion-wise!" Most of the problems with the game stem from the actual gameplay, however. The game begins (and proceeds) like this: you watch an animation for a few minutes and then a screen pops up with three little pictures of Rockett, the main character, in several different attitudes and with several different options for action. You can make Rockett act over-confident and brassy, confident and nice, or shy. Generally, the act confident and nice choice seems to work best. By rewarding with positive game feedback a particular personality that the designers happen to deem "best" for girls, the game is attempting to teach girls the "right" way to act, or at least, the way to become popular. In one scene in the game, Rockett is nearly in tears because some girl at school is wearing the same outfit as she. "It's only the first day and already I'm blowing it fashion-wise!", she wails. Not only does this encourage triviality and superficiality in girls, it perpetuates girls' insecurities about their looks. Furthermore, the game is extremely reactive so that girls are at the mercy of the designers' view of Rockett's life and progress. The only proactive actions that Rockett can take are to open up other students' lockers and read what they say about her. Not only does this imply that girls are sneaks, but it also encourages girls to worry about what other people think of them, and even more strongly establishes the tendency of middle-school girls to play cruel games and exercise power over other girls. Rockett's New School will probably make Purple Moon a lot of money, not because it has suddenly sparked girls' interest in computers -- but because it capitalizes on girls' fears about middle school and adolescence. Some of the characters in Rockett's New School. Notice the ethnic stereotyping, particularly in the character Miko.

Date Last Modified: 3/15/98
© 1998 Huang, Ring, Toich, Torres. All rights reserved.