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

by Sara Grimes

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 much 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.

A must-read for everyone involved in game design, play design, learning and everything-else-for-kids design. Sara's ability to bind together existing research and analytical practices from multiple study fields, presenting forces and gaps in research, industry production and policymaking will supercharge your ability to construct good child-oriented digital environments and technologies for children's play.