Alphabear & Admongo Reviews
Jacqueline Smith
Alphabear: I tried to look for games for younger children. It was a bit difficult but I did seem to find one in Alphabear. I played Alphabear for a while. It kept me engaged as an adult and I think younger children would enjoy it as well. It's like scrabble for kids, but you're not playing against anyone. It uses adorable characters that aren't male or female; however, the cutesie animals and colors would probably be more appealing to young girls. The characters look similar to toys you would find in the "girls toys" section of the toy store. I do not feel as though this game has any social impact or change-related agenda. It's a pretty straight forward game about creating words and has cute little bears and sounds to keep your attention. I'm not sure why it is included on the "games for change" site as it doesn't really advocate for anything. That being said, I do think it is a good game for young children to help them expand their vocabulary.
Admongo.gov: Admongo is a game created by the Federal Trade Commission to teach children about ad literacy. The game has the player chose a male or female character and then style them with different outfits and hair styles. I felt that it was gender sensitive in this way. There were lots of options including athletic wear for girls. The character then has to work its way through different settings and find and collect ads. The point is to show kids that ads are everywhere. I felt as though the message was a little lost and that I was spending a lot of time wandering around looking for an ad. When you find it it just adds it to your collection. There is nothing more to it than that. I didn't care for the game. I understand the point, but I think kids would get lost in the search and find aspect and lose the message. I think it would help if they showed different types of ads and had the player decide what type of ad it was and if they would buy the product being advertised.
Social impact and change-related games can be helpful in teaching children how to be responsible digital citizens. I think that the intentions of these games are always good and some of them can really affect change and help students understand the responsibilities of being digital citizens.