If nothing else watch the second link at the very end.

Christine made me realize that I too feel or once felt that games were something that made me feel as if I were not doing anything productive-a gendered socialization differential regarding idle time. Then I recalled the speech that Jane Mcgonical made for TED Talks about gaming for the future, and, as I googled her name for the original speech, found her currently appearing on the Colbert Report (which does not do her justice). Imagine my surprise when the first rhetoric was ‘games are productive.” It is best to watch her initial speech from ted, but I don’t want to inundate you. Here is the Colbert report link however:

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/373360/february-03-2011/jane-mcgonigal

Christine made me feel okay because she did not play games but alas, she thought of SIMS. Aaagh! I am alone again as  I play no games at all. My son has them. My daughter has them. He would have played them all the time (alone or with friends) if I had let him. My daughter was not interested unless they could play together, but she did not play hours at a time by herself as he did. It is mentioned in the Royse article that girls do play in groups (681).  

From  reading Royse et al, I feel this gives us the idea that games are still something that  ‘ is played’ in the sense of fun. However, the article talks about a sense of self. This is where McGonigal seems to be helpful. Games are now being created to explore, create, examine, help others. The gendered nature is reinstated.  McGonigal’s game is more suited for women because it is more nurturing. 

In a different link, but same idea (dealing with feelings or emotion), some of the research does suggest that women do not have as much time to play. It supports what we were saying-we feel guilty playing games and not getting our work done. (the nexus of domestic power  on page 682). Interestingly, then, is the study by Royse et al., because they take into account ‘the gendered self.’  As they mention, ‘… women negotiate technologies and how their various work of negotiation can produce different results and …interpretations of the consumption of technology as a gendered practice (683). Thus, my point is, even though my only encounter with gaming is the idea of gaming, I bring it back to TED talks  where Laurel http://www.ted.com/talks/brenda_laurel_on_making_games_for_girls.html discusses early research on girls and gaming. She studied and found that girls have desires to experience greater emotional flexibility” and “play around with their social complexity of their lives.”  It is at the end of this video that you might find very interesting. (by the second half she shows the game of Rocket).