child & family studies

Why is motherhood so poorly portrayed in video games?

“I’ve never had a baby. I once had one of those dolls that you could feed and it periodically pissed itself, but I gather this represents only a fraction of the maternal experience. I’ll tell you what I have done, though: I have played a lot of video games. And games, you may be startled to discover, are not too great at portraying motherhood – though they seem to have fatherhood all figured out.” – Kate Gray, The Guardian

Longstory

“LongStory is an episodic dating/adventure game about surviving your teenage years. Track clues to solve a mystery and navigate the school’s social scenes. Available for iOS and Android, the game currently has three episodes available. There will be five more episodes released to complete the first and second seasons.” – Developer

Ayiti: The Cost of Life

“Ayiti: The Cost of Life is a web-based, role-playing video game in which the player assumes the roles of family members living in rural Haiti. At the start of the game, the player chooses a main goal for his/her family: achieve education, make money, stay healthy, or maintain happiness. During the course of the game, the player encounters unexpected events and must make many decisions that contribute to or detract from achieving the chosen goal.” – Ayiti: The Cost of Life