[arg_discuss] ARGs for children?

[varin]

I think it's hard to lump all of those years "under 14" together.  A five
year old and a 14 year old are very, very different. ;)  I think with the
pre-teens or tweens, you might have to be a bit more careful, but like a few
others have said we already have established alternate realities for our
younger children.  My five year old believes in Santa, fairies and wishing
wells.  Two years ago my daughter was *dying* to talk to Elmo, so I called
up my husband at work and asked to speak to Elmo (he does a decent Elmo
impression).  She absolutely believed she was talking to the real Elmo...and
my husband never heard the end of it at work.  ;)  We went to Disney last
spring and she really believed she was meeting Cinderella and Belle,
although she did look a little skeptical at times when meeting the
characters in the furry costumes.  She was still able to suspend belief
though ;)

Imagination, pretend play, dress up and daydreaming are important steps in a
child's early development.  They get to learn about emotions and experiment
with problem solving (along with a ton of other benefits you can learn about
with a little googling).  Alot of kids these days are spending more time in
front of the television (passive entertainment) and less time using their
own imagination to entertain themselves.  I remember when I was a kid, I had
to wait until Saturday morning to see cartoons.  Now they're on practically
24/7!   Could ARGs for children bridge the gap between passive television
and imagination play?

With the tweens it might be important to have a thinner curtain, but with
the little ones I think you could most definitely have a thick curtain.  Of
course, most children that young aren't going to hop on the internet and
sign themselves up for an Elmo ARG.  Their parents are going to sign them up
and, in a way, step behind-the-curtain with the puppetmasters.

This is a subject I'm very much interested in.  I've been working on a
personal project in my free time (heh! free time?) that while I hesitate to
call it a full-blown children's ARG, you could say it has many ARGish
elements.

Michelle Senderhauf




----- Original Message ----- 
From: <despain at quantumcontent.com>
To: "Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG" <arg_discuss at igda.org>
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 10:59 AM
Subject: [arg_discuss] ARGs for children?



> Speaking of curtains and magic circles, have any of you done an ARG

> intended for an audience under 14 years old?

>

> In education circles, they stress the importance of clearly delineating

> fact from fiction for children. Yet when children play together reality is

> a very malleable space. Fiction and reality stand side by side.

>

> Do you suppose a thick or thin curtain would be better for this audience?

>

> Wendy Despain

> quantumcontent.com