What makes young children active game players; ethnographic case study

Abstract

Young children’s digital game play tends to be discouraged and policed, and controlled by adults, who nevertheless give their young children mobile phones and hand held game devices to keep them occupied. The purpose of this study is to uncover the tactics used by three-year-old children as digital game players and the strategies used by their parents to put limits on this play. The method is an ethnographic case study of six families having a three-year-old child playing digital games on a daily basis. This study shows that three- year-old children are active, avid digital gamers, and also adept at employing a range of tactics to gain access to opportunities to play.