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Marsha Kinder

Abstract

The article reveals how control can mitigate the boredom in traditional linear media consumed in days' past, how new interactive media can grant children more agency, and in turn make them feel more empowered. It discusses how childrens' media culture, specifically the trope of "instantaneous physical transformation,'' encourages viewers to have fluid identities and asks if this power can provide a platform for social change. With the help of the "The Changelings Project," a research initiative at the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California, Kinder was able to combine these two ideas of agency and fluid identities in the game, "Runaways." In this game, players must solve a missing person's case centered on 16-year old Latina Rita Rodriguez. Once this case is solved, other cases concerning ethnic communties are opened. In addition, players are able to customize race, ethnicity, gender, sex, and sexuality, which in turn affects the narrative of the game. These choices are given to players in order to make them ponder the complexity of the choices to challenge social norms. Mark Jonathan Harris, Kristy H. Kang, Patty Podesta, William S. Hughes helped to create the game, while working as searchers in the game along with production students to reflect diversity of the crew on-screen. The article also criticizes gender norms in society, noting how many games such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles target boys, while Barbies are seen as "girls' toys". Going on to explain how games can provide a bridge between social conventions and respond to individuals playing them, and noting how her own game seeks to have as few rules as possible to give the most agency. To increase emotional engagement, the game is centered on the issue of teenage runaways as race, ethnicity, gender, sex, and sexuality are predominantly linked to real life cases. Players ID cards are tied to the game, affecting choices in order to acknowledge and not disclude any particular marginalized group. The game seeks to not paint situations as black and white, revealing how running away is not wholly dependent on the child or the parent, and sometimes even both can be at fault. "Runaways" is a double entendre, critiquing how many games are created for boys, but also noting how games created by Mattel, Purple Moon, and Games for Girls do the opposite. In this case "Runaways" is an alternative, allowing for cross gender play. Overall, the game is a vicarious experience for potential runaways to show the potential dangers of doing so, and bring attention to a very real social problem.

Preservation Process

Archived from http://switch.sjsu.edu/archive/nextswitch/switch_engine/front/front.php%3Fartc=44.html. Documentation of the preservation processes used for this collection is available at https://github.com/NickSzydlowski/switch. Metadata for this item was created and augmented by Wilber Zheng, Spring 2022, ART 104.

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