An illustrated collection of essays by media and technology critics, psychologists, teachers, computer industry insiders, feminists, and female computer game-players addresses the influence of gender roles on the design of computer games and other toys. UP. This book explores the complicated issue of gender in computer games­-particularly the development of video games for girls. One side is the concern that the average computer game, being attractive primarily to boys, furthers the technology access gap between the genders. Yet attempts to create computer games that girls want to play brings about another set of concerns: should games be gendered at all? And does having boys' games and girls' games merely reinforce the way gender differences are socialized in play? Cassell and Jenkins have gathered the thoughts of several feminist and media scholars to explore the issues from multiple perspectives, but this is not a work confined to ivory-tower theorizing. Alongside the philosophical explorations are pragmatic investigations of the hard-nosed, real world of computer-game manufacture and sales. Particularly enlightening is a section featuring interviews with several leading creators of games for girls. And while all agree that it's good to be past the days when women in computer games were limited to scantily clad background figures or damsels in distress, the visions of an appropriate future are both diverse and well defended. There is no pretense here of easy answers, but there are many excellent questions. --Elizabeth Lewis This book brings together the perspectives of feminist activists and media scholars in a thought-provoking discussion of the "gendering" of video games. Until recently, women have appeared in computer games mostly as eroticized competitors to the male protagonist, distressed maidens, or other victims or objects. Recently, the girls' games movement has taken the computer-game industry to task for the use of these misogynistic images. Contributors discuss this issue as well as myriad related concerns: the cultural definition of computer games as boys' toys; girls' access to the technology and interest in it; and the complications of creating gender-neutral play space. In addition, girl gamers have a chance to discuss factoring their interests into the development of action games. There are no simple solutions to the often troublesome relation between gender and technology, but this book's presentation of the problems and possibilities makes academic reading relevant again. Philip Herbst "In From Barbie to Mortal Kombat , cultural theorists, software designers, game players, media professors and developmental psychologist, among others, offer thoughtful perspectives, in essays and interviews, on the medium's potential to enable kids to forge their own identity... The book's editors... have created an imaginative, original and complex volume that crystallizes feminist dilemmas regarding the origin and persistence of gender roles." -- Sandra Hackman, The Women's Review of Books, March 1999 "In From Barbie to Mortal Kombat , cultural theorists, software designers, game players, media professors and developmental psychologist, among others, offer thoughtful perspectives, in essays and interviews, on the medium's potential to enable kids to forge their own identity... The book's editors... have created an imaginative, original and complex volume that crystallizes feminist dilemmas regarding the origin and persistence of gender roles." -- Sandra Hackman, The Women's Review of Books, March 1999 "It's an unrelenting din, but this handful of women thinking seriously about gender and gaming agree on at least one thing: Girls need access to technology early on, something boys already take for granted." -- Karen Eng, Wired, March 1999 "The editors demonstrate that there is a clear link between playing computer games as young children and general comfort and facility with computers(and technology more broadly(as older kids and adults. The volume was written with an academic and industrial audience in mind, but parents of daughters should pay attention to what the contributors have to say about the ramifications of girls' limited participation with computer games." -- Lauren F. Winner, Books & Culture, A Christian Review, ) May/June 1999 "There are no simple solutions to the often troublesome relation between gender and technology, but this book's presentation of the problems and possibilities makes academic reading relevant again." -- Philip Herbst, Booklist, October 1998 "This comprehensive volume examines girlware and its discontents from every angle... -- Margot Mifflin, Entertainment Weekly, December 11, 1998 "This comprehensive volume examines girlware and its discontents from every angle... There's no easy answer, but this book does a fine job of unpacking the issues." -- Margot Mifflin, Entertainment Weekly, December 11, 1998 Read the full review for thi