138 Renowned Paper Doll Artists, Popular Char- Acters and Icons, And
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138 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PLAY • FALL 2018 renowned paper doll artists, popular char- Siyahhan and Elisabeth Gee, helps read- acters and icons, and contemporary paper ers understand the sociocultural nature doll projects. of learning by presenting them with Paper Dolls serves as a significant descriptive accounts of families and their resource on paper dolls for those interested relationships with video games. Siyahhan in scholarly pursuits and for those who and Gee are especially adept at highlight- collect the medium or other ephemera. ing the nuance and diversity in each of the The book is well researched and engaging. five family’s experiences. Concentrating Although paper dolls are a fragile type of on families adds a much needed context ephemera, they remain current and prove for understanding children’s experiences a unique cultural artifact. with games. Clearly, video game playing and other activities that stem from it are —Michelle Parnett-Dwyer, The Strong, opportunities for families to nurture and Rochester, NY learn together. Most importantly, the five families approached games with care and treated playing them as opportunities to bring family members closer together. Families at Play: Connecting Families at Play begins with an over- and Learning through Video view of the authors’ research agenda and Games then, just to get it out of the way first, Sinem Siyahhan and Elisabeth Gee quickly delves into dispelling myths asso- Cambridge, MA, 2018. Series foreword, ciated with video game playing and its per- preface, appendices, notes, bibliography, ceived negative effects. This book focuses and index. 200 pp. $30.00 cloth. on positive interactions between chil- ISBN: 9780262037464 dren and their family members with and around games. Negative experiences occur Individuals learn in contexts that depend with some (other families not described in on social and cultural connections to each the book), but much of the dysfunction other and to their environments. They are within families regarding video games learning all the time, in fact, as they adapt comes from a lack of understanding video to their changing environments—for game play as a situated opportunity for learning is essentially a change in behav- sharing and learning (which is true with ior often informed by a change in under- basically all media). Common mistakes standing contexts. Realizing this opens up include assuming that all video games are the conversation to a new set of questions the same (not true) and that play is like- and makes moot many others when we wise monolithic. In fact, one individual’s talk about video games and children. Chil- experience with a game (and whether it dren are always learning. Asking do they isolates him or her from family) may be learn with video games proves facile—the drastically different from another’s due answer is always yes. to the social contexts of play. For family Families at Play: Connecting and play, not the games, but the familial sup- Learning through Video Games, by Sinem port around playing them matters. Book Reviews 139 At the heart of the book lies a rich children; in fact, they often deliberately portrait developed during a decade of made time for their children and took an observation of five families about how active interest in the video game play. parents engaged in game playing with Siyahhan and Gee argue that the their children (and siblings with each actual practice of playing or participating other). The families came from different in video games spans across a “constella- socioeconomic backgrounds, and they all tion of literacy” domains, borrowing from exhibited different forms of engagement, a study by Constance Steinkuehler about ranging from actual coplaying to supervis- online game players’ literacy practices. As ing to exploring common affinities involv- such, it behooves researchers to under- ing particular genres of games or specific stand the talk in which families engage as game worlds. In all cases, the important they play. Examining their discourse elicits thread seems to be that the families who insight into their thinking and learning. spent time together, participating in shared Siyahhan and Gee use the established con- interests or desires, had extremely positive cept of learning conversations to describe relationships (and some negative ones) these moments, detailing how they often with video games in which children and happened spontaneously depending on parents learned and explored together. The the events occurring in the video games different families all had different arrange- the families played. ments with games and family members, In addition to developing a discourse but Siyahhan and Gee usefully categorize around their game play, families also their connectedness as occurring both formed their own (mini) communities vertically and horizontally. Vertical con- around it. If games are ritual spaces, it nectedness occurred among several fam- seems fitting that game playing in a larger ily members over a shared interest (for context also produces particular familial example, a father and son both loving the rituals and routine. Indeed, Siyahhan and Star Wars franchise). Horizontal connect- Gee suggest that families develop what edness occurred when a child took a deep Papert calls a “family learning culture” dive on a specific topic across multiple around their gaming. The five families mediums (for example, enjoying both Star also engaged in specific forms of iden- Wars games and Star Wars movies) within tity formation that could be examined on a nurturing environment. the level of individuals as well as of the The learning in these cases was inter- families as whole units. This could poten- est-driven, and parents fostered and cul- tially be another layer for James Paul Gee’s tivated their children’s situational interest description in What Video Games Have to into deeper learning opportunities, mostly Teach Us about Learning and Literacy of through participating with their children, three identities that occur when an indi- sharing or being receptive to their inter- vidual plays a game, adding complexity to ests, and socially engaging with them as shared formation of real-world identities they played with and around video games. and shared projection of particular identi- The most important commonality seemed ties onto game avatars. to be that parents spent time with their The book ends with practical advice. 140 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PLAY • FALL 2018 First, Siyahhan and Gee give parents a activity should have at its core—the will- list of potential questions to ask their ingness to challenge firmly held beliefs. children who play and suggests ways for After all, a belief that does not stand up to families to engage in game modding and rigorous scrutiny is not a belief worth hav- making, including naming specific useful ing. Arsenault’s work allows us the chance tools (such as Twine) and offering advice to do exactly that, rigorously to scruti- on how to approach them. Second, the nize the widely held belief that the Super authors provide guidelines for develop- Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) ers to encourage intergenerational play video game console was a stellar piece of through their video game design. Develop- hardware that enabled some of the greatest ers would do well to think about encorpo- software in video game history. Arsenault rating moments of relevance for different uses extensive research and novel infor- ages and skill levels, designing challenges mation to reframe most major factors that that can be shared, and how play can be contribute to that belief. Ultimately, his divided among players to meet these joint book is not designed to change the reader’s challenges. mind regarding these widely agreed-upon Overall, Families at Play is a wel- beliefs of the Super Nintendo. However, come addition to the sociocultural story it demands the reader flex some mental of learning with games because it provides muscles that may have grown weak after much needed nuance to the discussion by decades of simply adopting the same old expanding what we know to include spe- assumptions about the platform. cific details how families engage in pro- Not everything in the book runs ductive play. contrary to popular opinion. Peppered throughout Arsenault’s argument are bits —Mark Chen, University of Washington of what would pass as common knowl- Bothell, Bothell, WA edge among video game historians. He describes how the advent of CD-ROMs and polygonal graphics made the origi- nal Sony PlayStation console an enticing Super Power, Spoony Bards, and platform for third-party developers. And Silverware: The Super Nintendo the fact that Nintendo constantly relies on Entertainment System current or last generation technology for Dominic Arsenault its hardware forms a key tenet. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2017. In its quest to provide new informa- Introduction, notes, researches, and tion, the book offers some truly novel facts index. 226 pp. $29.95 cloth. and observations. Many people are aware ISBN: 9780262036566 of Nintendo and Sony’s inability to work together in creating a CD-ROM addition Dominic Arsenault’s book, Super Power, to the SNES. Nintendo abruptly, and pub- Spoony Bards, and Silverware: The Super licly, severed the deal with Sony in favor Nintendo Entertainment System, offers a of one with Philips. But the author adds to valuable reminder of what all scholarly the discussion that this extremely abrupt .