![]() From getting lost in Shadow of the Colossus to finding our way in Journey, games underline the importance of the spaces in which we play. Other games let us experience our connection to the environment by adventuring in it. Then there are games of dire warning that let us step into a future where humanity is all but disconnected from the wider environment and hangs on just by a thread. One family told us about Final Fantasy 7 Remake's commentary on corporations and ecology. Other games, like The Wandering Village underline how our location in the world impacts on us and others. Or it can be how a game like Eco establishes the connection between your actions and the other aspects of the environment. This might be how a game like Terra Nil makes the land itself a character in the experience. As she quotes, “games of environmental responsibility animate our capacity to respond, to affect and be affected, to engage with others: other species, other people, and the otherness of our own planet.” ![]() They offer a chance to consider play from an ecological perspective. The games in this list take inspiration from Alenda Chang’s Playing Nature book. These games encourage players to consider the impact of their actions on the environment, as well as their interconnectedness to the world in which they live. There are, however, many games that offer quite the reverse. It’s easy to assume that video games are all about building big cities or running successful economies. These aren't all child friendly, but are fascinating examples of play transgressing intended rules. The Let's Game It Out YouTube channel is a great example of games you can play in ways (very) unexpected by the developers. But how children stretch and reinvent (or refuse to partake in) this usually frowned on behaviour opens unexpected possibilities. Misbehave in games like Untitled Goose Game, Donut County, Carrion, Fable, Scribblenauts and Beholder is expected. Purposeless Exploration in games like, Proteus and Ynglet can be used as a way to waste time, not progress and refuse direction. Undirected play can lead to unintended scenarios in games like Pok Pok Playroom, Kids, A Short Hike or Townscaper where play isn’t directed or capitalised upon, but left alone to be an end in its own right. Then there's games like and Please Touch The Artwork and Sloppy Forgeries that invite usually discouraged behaviour. Children often invent their own rules and ways to play not instigated by the developer.Ĭitizenship their own way in games like Alba, Cozy Grove or Unpacking where children have agency to influence and contribute (or not) to public spaces. Metaverse rule making and breaking in games like Roblox and Fortnite, where the context offers more than competition. These games can be places where children push back at the powers-that-be and take ownership of these digital public spheres in unexpected ways. We’re excited about games in this list as they are not only digital spaces where these things meet, but that children use them in ways they weren’t intended. “Games 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.” It comes down to something at the heart of our database: seeing games more than mere sources of fun and diversion. Sara describes this as an embrace of the complexity of children’s online playgrounds, virtual worlds, and connected games. It’s about understanding digital play in a holistic sense so it can be all it needs to be in the life of a child. This is more than decrying big business muscling in on childhood. The politics of children’s play aren’t something we often talk about. Her book, Digital Playgrounds explores the key developments, trends, debates, and controversies that have shaped children’s commercial digital play spaces over the past two decades. We worked with Sara Grimes on this list of games that offer new and emergent ways to provide play possibilities to children. How do we empower children to play, break the rules and self-determination in light of other pressures and owners of these digital spaces? However, they are also contested spaces often created with profit as well as play in mind. Video games are a great way for children to play.
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