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Computer game is a computer-controlled game that players may interact with. A video game is a computer game where a video display such as a monitor or television is the primary feedback device. These terms are not always interchangeable as some games, particularly older games, do not use a video display. Usually there are rules and goals, but in more open-ended games the player may be free to do whatever they like within the confines of the virtual universe.

The phrase interactive entertainment is the formal reference to computer and video games. To avoid ambiguity, this game software is referred to as "computer and video games" throughout this article, which explores things common to both types of game.

In common usage, "computer game" or "PC game" refers specifically to games played on a personal computer, "console game" refers to games played on specifically-designed set top box, that play through a TV and "video game" (or "videogame") refers to any game played on a device that plays through your TV but also includes PC, Console, Mobile Phone or PDA or other handheld device.

First, let's consider some data on who uses the computer and to whom the computer is perceived to belong. Both girls and boys in kindergarten judge the computer to be a boy's toy (Wilder, Mackie, & Cooper, 1985), and children of that age already demonstrate a gender gap in use, with boys spending more time than girls at the computer, a gap that increases between the ages of 2 and 7 years (Huston, Wright, Marquis, & Green, 1999). The magnitude of this difference between boys and girls continues to increase with age; thus, among fourth- through sixth-grade students "heavy users" of computers are overwhelmingly boys -- the ratio of boys to girls is 4 to 1 (Sakamoto, 1994). Among secondary-school-age children (11 to 18 years), boys are at least 3 times more likely than girls to use a computer at home, participate in computer-related clubs or activities at school, or attend a computer camp. In 1982, only 5% of high school girls, as opposed to 60% of boys, enrolled in computer classes or used the computer outside of class (Lockheed, 1982). More recent statistics come from a 1998 survey demonstrating that high school boys predominate in all kinds of computer classes (design and technology, programming desktop publishing, artificial intelligence) except for word processing, where girls predominate (American Association of University Women (AAUW) Educational Foundation Commission on Technology and Teacher Education, 2000). Teachers appear to depend on similar gender stereotypes in their assessment of students. Culley (1993) found that teachers attributed secondary-school girls' high computer exam scores to hard work and diligence, whereas boys, even those who did less well on exams, were thought to have intuitive interest and a "flair" for computers. Despite the increasing prevalence of computers in schools and homes, these statistics have not changed significantly since the early 1980s (AAUW Educational Foundation Commission on Technology, 2000). Although the majority of studies have examined the state of affairs in North America, the same situation is found internationally (Janssen Reinen & Tjeed, 1993; Makrakis, 1993).

What are children, both boys and girls, using the computer for? Giacquintta, Bauer, and Levin (1993) found that by third grade, boys conceptualize computers differently from girls. Boys are more likely to play games, to program, and to see the computer as a recreational toy. Girls tend to view the computer as a tool, a means to accomplish a task, such as word processing or other clerical duties (Culley, 1993; Ogletree & Williams, 1990). In an informal study of an inner-city after-school computer program, I asked boys and girls why they were there. The boys tended to find the question ridiculous. One said, for example, "It's fun. I mean, there are all these computers for me to play with." The girls tended to be far more serious in their answers. One said, "Well, I really think this is a good opportunity for me to better my situation in life, and I believe that I can get a better job if I know how to use a computer." Adult women are also more likely than men to report that they see the computer as a tool rather than as an interesting artifact in its own right (Bennett, Branger, & Honey, 1998). That difference in how the girls and boys see their involvement with computers turns out to be mirrored by how designers see boys and girls. When educators with software design experience were asked to design software specifically for boys or for girls, they tended to design learning tools for the girls and games for the boys. When they were asked to design software for generic "students," they again designed games -- the type of software that they had designed for boys (Huff & Cooper, 1987). If this seems difficult to comprehend, an illuminating parallel can be drawn from cooking. Before James Beard began to host a television cooking show in 1946, home cooking in the United States was a woman's domain, and it was thought to be unmanly to cook at home. 1 James Beard explicitly addressed the notion that men could cook, and he said it was fun. What was the result? Once men could cook and it was fun, domestic devices for the kitchen were no longer called "appliances" but "gadgets." Think of the electric rotisserie, the bread machine, the coffee maker -- when men took over kitchen technology, cooking began to resemble a game.

In fact, continued exposure to computer games decreases preexisting gender differences (Greenfield, 1996), and when educators really make an effort to ensure that girls have equal time to spend on the computer, girls show equal ability in programming (Linn, 1985) and in technology-enhanced science classes (Mayer-Smith, Pedretti, & Woodrow, 2000). Woodrow (1994) found that boys' greater experience and more positive attitude toward computers did not actually result in higher performance with computers…

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