and children’s cognitive development

Chapter 4. PEGI 3 and PEGI 7 games, representation of disability and children’s cognitive development

The 1990s brought one of the earliest representations of disability to children who played video games in Camp Frog Hollow (1996), a language program designed for students with special needs. The game, designed by early advocates of assistive technology and inclusion, included representations of children of many races and one child in a wheelchair. The wheelchair, already a recognized symbol commonly associated with disability, became the image most used for representing physical disability in games that aimed to be inclusive. The most beneficial type of representation of disability in children’s games should provide players with exposure and engagement that adds understanding and helps them create meaning about the disability represented. As it stands, games differ significantly in how they represent disability. Representation can be cosmetic, providing exposure but not gameplay utility; it can be incidental, used as a device that provides purpose for the narrative; or it can accurately represent the disability and show how the character copes with their disability. How representation is perceived by children, i.e., the message that is received depends on what stage a child may be in their cognitive development, the society of which they are a part, and their exposure to disability in games previously.

The majority of research in children’s cognitive development and games has focused on skill development (literacy, math, science) and, more recently, the social and emotional relationship with characters that encourages skill development (Blumberg, 2019). Serious topics for children concerning social issues such as the perception of disability and how perception is established and maintained or altered through playing video games has received less attention.7

Cognitive development concerns itself with looking around, investigating and testing what’s there, and developing ways to function in the world, that is, problem solving. Video games engage players in problem solving. Whether the game is a cooking game (Overcooked!), a straightforward math learning game (Granny Prix Multi-Player), or a puzzle adventure game about dementia (Ether One), children must learn the mechanics of the game

7 Rising issues in social media such as bullying have encouraged research and development of games that tackle serious topics for children (Madej, Taking on Serious Topics in Children’s Entertainment Games, 2017).

(underlying rules) and create a personal dynamic (how they personally play the game) with the aesthetics of the game (Hunicke, 2004). In playing the story, they are involved with both the way they play the game, and the way they integrate concepts (whether cooking, math, or dementia), on their own terms (Gee, 2003).

Traditionally, we’ve made assumptions about cognitive development and how children integrate information and change it into knowledge top-down, by observing their daily behavior8. In the 1930s psychologist Jean Piaget’s research led to theories about children’s stages of cognitive development based on age, distinct characteristics, and recognizable milestones. Piaget theorized that children, as they grow older, go through a sequence of development stages that are revolutionary. Through assimilation (knowing based on action) and accommodation (integrating this knowledge into a personal schema), important changes in cognitive structures, processes, and abilities occur. As children develop, they are capable of recognizing and integrating progressively more complex characteristics into their perception and move from becoming spatially aware by playing with objects to recognizing symbols, understanding comparisons, and becoming more socially and intellectually aware (Piaget J., 1972). As children learn to master life skills, they become less dependent on their parents and more autonomous. Once they enter more social environments like school, they begin to develop collaboration skills and begin to position themselves as individuals in the world they are learning about by testing it (Vygotsky, The Role of Play in Development, 2007). Playing games develops both individual aptitudes and a set of effective social practices and offers a way to share knowledge skills and values with others (Bailey, 2006).

Human neurobiology, bottom-up study of the brain, was not easily conducted until the 1920s and the development of the Electromagnetic Encephalogram (EEG). The brain develops by making connections; these connections, called synapses, can be mapped as electrical transmissions. EEGs are effective in showing existing and changing patterns of electrical transmissions (Banich, 2011). Improvements in brain imaging techniques have made it possible to examine brain activity in even very young children.

8 Recorded writings which argue that children learn through play go back thousands of years to Ancient Greece. They include Plato, (Laws, The Republic c350bce) and notables such as Martin Luther (1500s, Treatises on Education), John Locke (1600s, Some Thoughts Concerning Education), Friedrich Froebel (1800s, The Education of Man), John Dewey (turn of the 19th century, The School and Society) among others.

Together, behavioral and neurobiological research shows “strong and consistent relationships between children’s playfulness and their cognitive and emotional development” (Whitebread, 2012) and provides a picture of children’s cognitive development that can be used to consider how children experience a representation of disability in games.

Nineteen games (1994-2020) with a PEGI 3 rating, and seventeen games (2004 to 2020) with a PEGI 7 rating, were reviewed to consider how representation of disability maps against cognitive development of children to the age of 12. PEGI 3 games with the representation of a broad range of disabilities are limited, and the list includes historical games no longer readily available. PEGI 7 games were also chosen to represent a broad range of physical disabilities and game genres. These are all in current use.

The first section of the chapter expands on the cognitive development concepts mentioned above and as well, includes a discussion of schema, play, dreamworlds, cognitive toolsets, and mirror neurons, and illustrates the discussion with examples from PEGI 3 and PEGI 7 games. The chapter then reviews games for types of representation and children’s perception based on their development. In addition, there is a discussion of how rating systems map against cognitive development. The chapter concludes with a summary and thoughts for future work. For reference, young children are 3-5 or pre-school, middle age children from 6-8 or early elementary, older children from 9-11 or later elementary, which straddle the PEGI rating ages.

Children’s cognitive development: schema, play, the dreamworld, and societal norms

What then cognitively happens when children are playing games? How do they integrate knowledge about disability when they push a button, move a mouse, slide their finger over a cartoon child in a wheelchair who hits a baseball at their instigation? We must first look at schema as it is the framework of experience that humans construct from birth throughout their life which helps them relate to and integrate new information. Schema is dynamic; always in the background accumulating experiences and adding depth and breadth to children’s (and then adults’) perception of the world. The richer the schema children bring to a situation, the easier it is for them to understand the new situation more thoroughly and more quickly.

Schema

When children are babies, they reach out physically to experience the world. They push, pull, and prod to make things happen. This ongoing exploration is inherent, a way all living creatures ensure growth and development. Through such interactions, babies begin to build a schema of understanding on which all their future perception of the world is based. Schema scaffolds – this is most easily understood as ongoing construction of mental models that are easily referenced as little stories. A schema is always there to refer to when a new experience presents itself and provides the base from which to move on. Without a scaffold of information, humans would need to relearn everything on an ongoing basis, an impossibility. Schema is dynamic. Children are always in the process of acquiring new experiences, finding new objects to explore, and new worlds to challenge. When children experience something new, they will either assimilate it into a schema that already exists or, if they do not have an exact reference because as of yet their experience is limited, they will branch out with a new schema that will accommodate the new situation (Bartlett, 1932, Engel, 1995, Schank, 1990). Although cognitive development theories are introduced later in this chapter, it is appropriate to touch on one of Piaget’s concepts as it reinforces this view of dynamic schema. Cognitive development relies on two things that must happen: children’s cognition changes as they first adapt to new situations, and they then achieve equilibrium. Adaptation involves both assimilation, applying existing concepts to new ones, and accommodation, altering previous concepts when new information is provided. Equilibrium is the balance that comes with successful adaptation (Piaget J., 1972).

An example of building schema is a young child who has no experience of a wheelchair playing the game Peg and Pog (Age 3-5). This is an educational game with eight adventures, one of which is a musical party. When the scene opens, it highlights a high stage at the end of the room on which are located a girl in a wheelchair and some musical instruments. There is no access to the stage at the front, but there is a ramp on the left side down which the girl could wheel herself. Instead, as the animation begins, she simply moves forward and drops from the front of the stage to the floor. As the graphics are puppet-like and front-only view, there is no realism, only similitude, and this type of movement is typical in the game. The girl moves forward in the room where five friends join her, and they all wave their hands to the music. The five friends move their feet, and it is obvious the character in the wheelchair does not. As in our example the player is not familiar with a wheelchair, and the graphic image of the character does not clearly identify how the wheelchair moves (she did simply jump off

the stage),how is this interpreted? Where does this new entity fit? From previous media exposure (book, film) the player has a schema of a mermaid, who does not walk, but does move about (if only in water). Perhaps the new entity, who does not move her legs either, is similar to a mermaid, and the wheelchair is part of her body (assimilation). In time, as more information is added to the girl-in-a-wheelchair schema (perhaps through a discussion with an adult, or by seeing a person in a wheelchair), a more accurate version of reality will be accommodated. As scaffolds and their schema are dynamic, the wheelchair schema will continue to be added to and change with each new experience.

In the games Overcooked! and Moving Out, the inclusion of a wheelchair to a character does not change gameplay: the schema is that a chef or a mover in a wheelchair are equally capable to those not in a wheelchair. Information added to the schema can be of a positive or negative implication: Positive: being in a wheelchair is no big deal – a wheelchair user is considered in the same light as a non-wheelchair user. Negative: being in a wheelchair is no big deal – the actual difficulties of living using a wheelchair are not considered because they are not identified or taken into account. Without knowledge about the implications of a wheelchair (pain, hospital visits, inability to participate in activities, need for assistance), younger children’s schema will define the character as normally able and not increase their knowledge, understanding, or empathy until such time as they are provided accurate representation. The sandbox game Toca Life, in which, like Moving Out, a wheelchair is an added accessory, is different as children create their own stories in which a wheelchair is either a neutral cosmetic addition or is a life-defining mobility aid, depending on their knowledge of its purpose and their interest in stories that are realistic. Constructivist theory suggests that when children make something concretely, as in creating the sandbox stories, the learning is more efficient, which implies that the schema created through Toca Life is more persistent than that created by Pog and Peg, Overcooked or Move Out.

Play

Play is a characteristic of young children’s cognitive process during which they exercise control of objects and integrate them into their perception or schema. Child psychologist Melanie Klein observed children with affective disorders who were as young as two to learn how they interpreted their world. From her observations she theorized that in playing with toy objects (every item a child encounters is a toy to them) children confer meaning on them by investing these objects with their own images and feelings (Kidd, 2004, Young, 2005). The

meaning of the artifact that a child internalizes is not what their caretaker adult would confer on it or would like or expect the child to confer on it – the child does not have the adult’s experience to refer to. It is instead the meaning the child has negotiated through their play and is based on the schema constructed from their experiences of the world up to that time. While adults provide children with opportunities for playing games such as Peg and Pog, Klein’s investigations of symbolization show that children create their own understanding of their game experience. While parents may anticipate that the inclusion of a character in a wheelchair will give their children exposure to the disability, which, will in turn elicit, empathetic behavior, that does not happen on its own. In this game, because there are no explanations, and minimal interaction with the characters, only with parental participation, explanation, and discussion, will children’s schema include empathy.

It is when they are playing in this way that children try out new behaviors that solidify their schema. Children will repeat a behavior through many variations, modifying it, exaggerating it, or providing a slightly different storyline to try it out again and again and in this way internalize the behavior and make it their own. Such practice is a unique characteristic of play that helps children develop their skills as problem solvers as well as to master tasks that go beyond their current abilities – whether learning to push a ball and make it roll each time or learning to maneuver their way through a new level of a video game (Vygotsky, Mind in Society, 1978).

Dreamworld: disbelief isn’t an option

For a young child, play and reality are not separate; they are one and the same. Psychologist D.W. Winnicott studied with Klein and explored further how play is key to children’s symbolization of the world. He theorized that the process included “the interplay of personal psychic reality and the experience of control of actual objects” (Winnicott, 1971. p.41). Winnicott’s research shows that when young children play, they are completely preoccupied with the activity, neither able to leave it nor able to allow any intrusion easily. Their preoccupation creates a personal space around them that, while it is outside the child, isn’t really part of their external environment. It is rather a construct of their inner reality meeting their external reality. Play theorist Johan Huizinga called this circle of play the magic circle (Huizinga, 1949)9. The objects and experiences children bring into this circle of play become a part of

9 The concept has been adapted by game theorists who use it to explain game phenomena (Salen & Zimmerman, 2003).

their personal reality; a reality Winnicott identifies as “dream potential” because, as of yet, young children have no way of disassociating themselves from their dream selves (Winnicott, 1971). They do not have the experience of life as a reference in their schema that tells them something might not be real. When confronted with animals that speak, mermaids, dragons, halflings, ghosts, or superheroes, they do not disbelieve. These entities are a part of their understanding of reality. When they play a game, whether Winnie the Pooh, or Finding Nemo, these experiences add to their schema, not as pretend but as real. While it is given the name “pretend play,” it is not pretend, it is their practice for life. 10 As they practice playing out Winnie’s concern for Eeyore and for Piglet, they assimilate and accommodate the experience into a schema of concern and caring, bringing the new understanding into their daily life.

Societal norms: nuancing the norm cognitive toolsets

As children grow, they are socially and culturally indoctrinated into the norms of their society, norms that have been centuries in the making and have been passed down from generation to generation through cognitive tools. Young children’s schema is constructed from their experience and is necessarily set by their society’s norms and view of the world (Egan, 1997, Vygotsky, Mind in Society, 1978)11. Young children’s worlds are confined, their social world limited to their immediate or extended family, an environment where norms continue to reinforce the schema constructed from birth and to which contradictory viewpoints are seldom added. In a contemporary world, video games often bring children’s first experience in which they engage with characters that are different from what is the norm in their society – these games encompass the cultural values of the developers who have made them rather than the cultural values of their own society. As the internet brings global influences through apps on computers, tablets, and mobile phones, nuances are added to the schema children’s minds have constructed. Even with external influences adding new information to a schema, society will continue to temper shifts in the viewpoint that the dynamic nature of schema allows for, but a society may want to resist.

10 As early as Plato’s writings in Laws, educational theorists have encouraged play that reflects reality so they would develop into responsible adults (Madej, Physical Play in Games, 2016)

11 Each child reacts to their experience with an existing internal reference, so no two children will reference their experience in exactly the same way, no matter how similar the external reference. See 2014: What Scientific Idea is Ready for Retirement: Nature Versus Nurture. (Hannay, 2014). https:// www.edge.org/response-detail/25365

The following two games examples show how a schema about a wheelchair user becomes nuanced for young children. The norm in western society is that by the time children are three, they have had many movie/television/shopping experiences and are familiar with a wide range of animated and live story characters. In the 1990s, the popular retailer Toy’s R Us mascot, Geoffrey, a giraffe, was the third most recognized animation character in the US. 12 The company had its start in 1948, and from 1966 onwards, Geoffrey, his kid helpers, and sometimes his giraffe family, had featured in many ads for the company, whose memorable song “I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid” expressed the sentiment of the age. The children depicted in most of the ads were toddlers, preschoolers, and k-2, approximately ages 3-7 (PEGI 3). The 3D adventure video game Geoffrey Goes to the Fair was produced for the company in 1998. The video game does not promote the store nor does it mention it in any way. The main character is Geoffrey, who, with his friends, visits a fair. The development team was interested in presenting an inclusive environment, and Geoffrey has three female animal friends and three male animal friends. Included in the male friends is Lennie

the Lion, who uses a wheelchair. When asked by a corporate executive why it was the Lion, a symbol of strength, who was in the wheelchair, the game designer’s response was: that was the reason. Lennie’s use of the wheelchair is not given a back story and is never commented on as potentially being a disadvantage to Lennie in his activities. There was significant work involved in rigging the character differently (wheelchair movements were not standard) and in reconfiguring a standard environment to accommodate wheelchair requirements, e.g., the stage and haunted house were provided with a ramp as well as stairs, and all arcade tabletops were lowered. This was done to create a seamless experience so that at no point would players experience Lennie’s movements as unnatural or awkward. In the opening scene, which shows Geoffrey and all his friends on bicycles racing along, Lennie the Lion and his wheelchair are competitive in the race, bicycles and wheelchair race forward and fall back, the wheels of the wheelchair are shown as equal to the bicycle wheels in speed, and Lennie is on equal footing (wheeling) with his friends. While the utopian environment in the game is not reflective of all reality – ramps are not available everywhere – it has the advantage of presenting Lennie in his wheelchair as just another one of Geoffrey’s friends. This representation provided a positive perspective of disability to an entire generation of children at a time

12 Information about the development of Geoffrey Goes to the Fair was provided by the president of Apptastic Software Inc., the game developer, in a personal interview (Pratte, 2021).

when public perception in the US was changing.13 It added to their schema the image of a wheelchair user being friendly, competent, and competitive. The schema, reinforced by the repetition inherent in playing arcade-style games, added nuances that weakened the cultural norm/stigma associated with disability and wheelchair use at the time.

A few years later, children who played Geoffrey Goes to the Fair are playing Backyard Baseball Junior. In this hypothetical situation, children have had little or no other exposure to wheelchair use beyond Lennie the Lion. One of the player choices is Kenny Kawaguchi, a young athlete who, because of a mobility disability in his legs, uses a wheelchair. At the beginning of the game, kids are chosen for each team. When Kenny’s turn comes up, he comments, “Don’t let this wheelchair fool ya’, I can play.” Although Lennie the Lion is in a wheelchair, his ability to be able to race his friends down the street and play arcade games is not questioned and is not a factor in being included as one of Geoffrey’s friends. Kenny, in order to join the team, must persuade the coach that his use of a wheelchair does not hinder his competency at playing the game. Because of Kenny’s comment, the wheelchair schema children constructed from Geoffrey Goes to the Fair needs to accommodate three new ideas: one, doubt about competency of an individual in a wheelchair, two, doubt that someone in a wheelchair can be part of a team, three, the need for someone in a wheelchair to defend their the competency in light of the aid. Kenny is chosen for the team and soon proves his competency (he’s a stellar player). The schema of a wheelchair user playing great baseball is introduced to counter the initial negative reference, which, nevertheless, remains in the schema. After playing Backyard Baseball, the representation of a user in a wheelchair is nuanced: Geoffrey’s use of a wheelchair is a positive image of competency, Kenny’s use of a wheelchair, because it must be defended as not being a liability, then adds to the schema hesitancy about competency. If future experiences of people or characters who use wheelchairs (stories, images, parental support) are positive, these attitudes will be reinforced. If children go on to experience cultural attitudes, stories, and images that discriminate, vilify,

13 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 required that “public accommodations and commercial facilities” be “readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.” (Cahill, 1995). Until 1974, various cities in the US had laws that targeted poor and disabled people: “any person, who is diseased, maimed, mutilated or deformed in any way, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object, to expose himself or herself to public view” (Schweik, 2009).

or disparage, the negative schema will be reinforced.14

Children’s cognitive development – what we know from behavioral psychology

The work of the three educational psychologists, Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, and Lev Vygotsky, underlies this chapter’s discussion of games.15 Piaget’s research in cognitive development introduced the concept that the brain progresses through four stages, each of which displays major characteristics and developmental changes and that these stages, while they may vary in length and overlap, are sequential. As they progress through the cognitive stages, children are increasingly capable of more complex functions. Piaget’s second and third stage, which he called pre-operational and concrete operations, correlate to PEGI 3 and PEGI 7 ratings.

Briefly, from about two to seven years of age, children move from being involved with playing with objects and becoming spatially aware (earlier sensorimotor stage) to recognizing symbols and beginning to use language more effectively to communicate and to think. They are able to mentally represent their world and enjoy pretend play; toys have life and feelings like a person’s. Their view of the world is self-centric - as it relates to themselves - and they have not yet progressed to seeing it as it is or from the perspective of others. When playing with friends, their own view is the right one; collaboration is in its infancy. Thinking is based on their judgments about situations and is not yet logical.

From seven to eleven or twelve years of age, children learn to develop logical thought about physical processes and then construct these operations mentally without the object present. They can think logically much more successfully if they manipulate real (concrete) materials or pictures of them. They begin to move beyond their self-centric view and consider how others might think or feel about something. They begin to collaborate and work together. They look around, questioning the world, seeing it more as it is. They begin to think out their own place in the world, pushing the boundaries they’ve known (Piaget J., 1972).

14 A different discussion is the designer’s role in the two video games. Designers in Geoffrey Goes to the Fair were conscientious in their presentation of diversity and disability. One of the design team was a teacher who worked with children with disabilities (Pratte, 2021). Designers of Backyard Baseball Junior show the influence of public bias about competency of wheelchair users.

15 This discussion mentions only most rudimentarily a number of ideas from the extensive theories of the three psychologists.

The Review of Games in the second part of this chapter considers the characteristics of these two stages more specifically in its analysis of how representation is perceived by children in each of the games.

Bruner added to Piaget’s theories that while cognitive stages of development are sequential, they layer rather than supersede each other. This is an important qualifier to remember when children of the same age bring differing abilities to playing a game, both for understanding content and for developing skills. This is also the underlying reason different ratings are given to the same game or type of game. Being layered, stages have no hard and fast endings; that is, for instance, sensory learning is not limited to babies and toddlers, and does not stop, but is available to any age. Piaget and Bruner both believed children are inherently motivated to explore what is around them and build mental representations by actively engaging with their environment to construct their own knowledge (Bruner, Toward a Theory of Instruction, 1966). Children use constructivist engagement when they collect tokens, design their characters, provide them with attributes and send them on their quest, but it is in sandbox games which include both pretend play and construction of worlds in which constructivist engagement is most evident.

Bruner placed considerable emphasis on the role of culture and society in children’s development, an emphasis shared by Vygotsky. Vygotsky argued that children could only develop through interpersonal connections with parents, siblings, caregivers, and peers. This is evident when young children are introduced to games by their parents and older siblings, who share their interest and expertise in gameplay as well as their knowledge about the subject of the game. It is within this social context that children construct schemata from their experiences (Vygotsky, Thought and Language, 1985).

Vygotsky provides us with an essential explanation of process how children move from one stage to the next by introducing the idea of critical periods. Beginning at birth, children experience recurring periods of stability and crisis. They go through a stage of stability as they enjoy their mastery of the world around them. Then they begin to stretch to gain new abilities: physical and cognitive. Frustration grows when these cannot be reached because the necessary skills have not yet been developed. This frustration leads to a crisis or critical period of instability. Stable age periods are followed by critical age periods at birth and ages 1, 2, 7, 13, and 17, which map to Piaget’s stages of development as well as to PEGI 3 and PEGI 7 ratings. Two factors come into play from within the child’s environment to meet the frustration. On one side, there are cultural expectations, available resources such as cogni-

tive tools, and the support provided by adults (parents, siblings). On the other are the child’s age, behavior, and individual capacity. The crisis takes them into the next period of acquiring mastery: this may be learning to use a spoon, reading their first words, using a skateboard, or getting to the next level of a video game. Depending on the society in which a child is raised, the age at which these transformations occur may vary, but their fundamental character remains the same (Blunden, 2008).

This process of stability/crisis occurs in all activities that require skills and is easily observable in video gameplay which requires players to have achieved certain abilities to progress through a game. When players have achieved the mastery necessary to complete a level, they want to move on to the next level. As they enter the next level, which is designed to be more demanding, they do not yet have the skills to complete the tasks and are frustrated: this is the critical period. They practice and practice to gain mastery and, when they have done so, enter a period of stability. This type of practice is required in arcade-style games (Buster Baxter), simulation games (Overcooked!), and action-adventure games (Sly Cooper: Thieves of Time), in which skills need to be improved to reach faster or more complex levels of action. Narrative based games such as Beyond Eyes, in which the player must learn how to guide the blind Rae on her journey to be reunited with her cat Nani, or Weakless, in which the player must learn to switch back and forth between The Blind One and The Deaf One to take advantage of their abilities, will have moments of frustration in the road to achieving mastery as well. In games that aim to represent struggle when featuring a player with a physical disability (Bentley in Sly Cooper, must learn to use his wheelchair and change his tactics) or a cognitive disability (Jean Thompson in Ether One, must learn to deal with the confusion caused by her deteriorating cognitive abilities) the inherent struggle the player has in gaining mastery echoes the struggles of the character in the game. If the frustration leads to quitting the game or to a negative response, the schema of disability then includes this frustration.

Vygotsky includes children’s move away from dependence on adults and towards autonomous thought and action as a characteristic during their stages of development. Children’s interest in gaining autonomy over their environment is, in Vygotsky’s view, inherent in the development process and is consistent throughout all stages of development from infancy through older childhood. This move to independence is important to our understanding that, as children are growing up, messages provided in games can have an impact different from the cultural beliefs engendered by their society (see also the previous section on schema and nuance). In a globally oriented economy, with a range of games available to almost

all societies, children play games in which they engage with characters independently from the influence of parents and society. The stigma that may exist about disability in a culture is countered when children play games such as Backyard Baseball Junior, in which Kenny introduces himself with a comment that acknowledges society’s view of his potential liability to the team because he is in a wheelchair, but as he goes on to be a stellar player, he becomes an asset to his team. Because the representation doesn’t only rah-rah Kenny, but also acknowledges society’s biased views, children are learning to form opinions and be autonomous as they make up their own mind about the disability by either choosing Kenny as a player or not choosing him (an additional and different argument about Kenny’s comment is included under Representation). As children strive to become autonomous, develop their own views, and find their place in society, they may come to conclusions about disability that help counter the socially acceptable attitudes of concealing, shunning, or bullying of a different generation.

Children’s cognitive development – what we know from neuroscience

Neuroscience looks at the underlying mechanism that governs development: it examines the child’s brain directly and shows us how “mental functions map onto the brain structures.” Our brain or cerebral cortex consists of many highly interconnected neural networks that respond very rapidly to the demands made on it. The brain develops by making connections, these connections are called synapses, and they can be mapped. Technology such as Diffusion Tensor Imaging is “capable of detecting established and new pathways that have been formed in the brain. As new pathways are evidence of learning, this test is anatomical and physiological evidence of rewiring the brain through learning” (Miranda, 2015).

Useful knowledge for our game analysis of PEGI 3 and PEGI 7 games is that from infancy to later childhood, around age 10, children’s brains contain more synapses that connect neurons than at any other time in their lives. Research studies show that synapses grow in the brain very quickly until around age three. At around that time, in what appears to be fundamental to development, the brain begins to fine-tune its synaptic connections: it starts to reinforce and keep synapses that are used repeatedly, and it prunes away synapses that aren’t used. Even when pruned, synapses, like schema, never disappear completely. From three until around age nine or ten, growth and pruning are balanced. During puberty/ adolescence, there is another period of exuberant growth that exceeds pruning. Then the synaptic connections begin to settle down to a stable level. The brain most efficiently acquires knowl-

edge and skills when synaptic density and experiential fine-tuning are high (Banich, 2011, Bransford, 2000, Bruer, The Myth of the First Three Years, 2002). Positive early interactions help the brain reinforce existing connections and make new ones. Complex or enriched environments cause new synapses to form, and ideas introduced in related contexts reinforce synapses most effectively (Irby, 2007, Sylwester, 1995).

Introducing positive representations of disability in PEGI 3 and PEGI 7 games takes advantage of recognized periods when ideas become most efficiently introduced as synaptic activity and when reinforcement through repetition will encourage the creation of synapse clusters and avoid pruning. Repeated play of games in which characters with disabilities are represented as competent in adapting to their disability and which show an advantage, such as enhancement of other senses (Beyond Eyes, Weakless), expands, secures, and conserves the synaptic activity around this outlook (Kastellakis & Poirazi, 2019). The same can be said for repeated play of games with the representation of disability as a liability.

Previous discussions about cognitive development – building schema, stages of development, move to autonomous thought, mastery – can be viewed in light of the importance of synapse creation, pruning, and maintenance in children’s cognitive growth from age three to ten/before adolescence.

Mirror neurons

One last topic in neuroscience, mirror neurons and aesthetics, is introduced to provide added perspective to this discussion on the representation of disability in children’s games. Artists have long known the effect on audiences of depicting emotion and action in their paintings. The renaissance artist and architect Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72) wrote:

The painting will move the soul of the beholder when the people painted there each clearly shows the movement of his own soul...we weep with the weeping, laugh with the laughing, and grieve with the grieving. These movements of the soul are known from the movements of the body.

In their 2007 article, Motion, Emotion, and Empathy in Aesthetic Experience, David Freedberg and Vittorio Gallese outline how humans react to images that represent human action. Citing new studies in neuroscience about the underlying mechanism that links aesthetic images and empathy, they explain that when people look at an image, mirror neurons are activated in that part of the brain that would normally be activated when doing those

actions; this includes all the associated emotions and physical reactions. That is, the brain’s neurons react identically both when a particular action is performed and when it is only observed. Even with static images, the brain interprets movement and creates a trajectory that includes before and after the moment. The response is instantaneous; there is no gateway thought, i.e., “I’ll think about it this way.”

Mirror neurons have been used for a number of years in practice such as training stroke victims in which movement on one side of the body is affected. Simply explained: for a person whose right side of the body has been affected and therapy is being provided to the right hand, a mirror is placed against the person’s left hand, which completes a series of movements. In the mirror, it appears as if the right hand is also moving. The brain believes the right hand is moving and begins to reactivate the synapses associated with that movement.

As neuroscience substantiates behavioral observation in cognitive development, neuroaesthetics, while an area of study for only the past few decades, substantiates centuries of observation. This neural basis for connecting empathy and aesthetics has implications for discussions around representation and imagery in all video games but in particular for children’s games. Drawing a trajectory to video games and representation of disability, the idea that a player will experience disability with the same reactions, emotions, and feelings as the character experiences when realistically depicted, encourages a conscientious and thoughtful approach to depicting a disability. A better understanding of the disability can lead to different creative ways to provide an accurate depiction for different age groups and different styles of player. The two games Beyond Eyes and Pulse can again be used as examples. In the game Beyond Eyes, the player moves the blind Rae hesitantly towards white, empty space, which symbolizes new beginnings, and the watercolor scenery that emerges is lyrical and evinces a sense of calm beauty. Mirror neurons bring the player into the space with Rae: her sense of hesitancy as echolocation guides her is also felt by the player. For some older children, this may feel slow, with little in the way of exciting interaction, something they have come to expect from games. Pulse provides a faster-paced experience and an aesthetic of the scene emerging from echolocation, which is more dynamic, darker, and at times frightening. The frisson of fear in the tummy is a reflection of mirror neurons at work. Eva is scared. So is the player.

Review of games

Types of representation

This section of the chapter reviews games for types of representation and children’s perception based on the stage of their development. A number of the games have been featured in the previous sections, and discussions overlap. The games Geoffrey at the Fair and Backyard Baseball Junior were discussed at length earlier in the chapter and are not included here. Again for reference, young children are 3-5 or pre-school, middle age children from 6-8 or early elementary, older children from 9-11 or later elementary, which straddle the PEGI rating ages.

Physical disability

The 2D games, Moving Out (PEGI 3), and Overcooked! (PEGI 7) illustrate a common way in which physical disability is represented by a wheelchair through choice in character or avatar design. Moving Out offers the option for all of the movers (people, animals, objects) on a team to be in a wheelchair; Overcooked! has many chefs (animals) to choose from for the cooking team, one of which is in a wheelchair.16 In these two games, the wheelchair appears as a cosmetic addition and in no way changes the action, is an advantage, or is a disadvantage, in gameplay.17 While middle age to older children have probably been exposed to wheelchair use, a younger player may not have seen a person in a wheelchair previously. Yet implicit in its presence is that it is a sufficiently recognizable symbol not to require an explanation. Representation for those familiar with wheelchairs is a visual reminder that individuals in wheel-

chairs are capable of participating in these activities.18 In addition, it is a visual inclusion for

16 Animals have been used as metaphors for people in myths, fables, and fairytales for centuries. Anthropomorphism became well established through animated films in the 20th century and continues its presence in narratives in all media.

17 For Moving Out, this was part of the development strategy for including the wheelchair as an accessory...https://www.gamespot.com/articles/moving-out-dev-on-the-importance-of-inclusivity-an/ 1100-6477261/

18 Such neutral representation can be seen as a form of erasure. See further discussion in Cole & Barker, 2020.

players who are wheelchair users.19 A Steam Community comment about Overcooked! notes, that the wheelchair character, a raccoon, was so well-liked he was called out as a fan favorite on the game FAQs page of returning characters.20 The character has de facto become an endearing symbol as wheelchair use has distinguished him in the line of characters.

In keeping with new attitudes about inclusion, the online educational site DreamBox Learning Math (5-9) represents different genders, races, and includes a symbol of physical disability, the wheelchair, in its avatar mix. Children choose an avatar as their representative and then go on to complete the activities. The avatar is not involved in the activities and does not affect gameplay. The wheelchair is a cosmetic addition and a visual inclusion for players who are wheelchair users.

A game for younger children in which a wheelchair plays a cosmetic role is Peg and Pog (3-5). As discussed earlier in Schema, this is a vocabulary-building game in which Peg and Pog (boy and girl) have four friends, one boy and three girls, join them in learning the names of objects during eight adventures, including on safari, shopping, and at a party. One of the girls uses a wheelchair, and she participates in the same activities that the other children do without exception. Because of the 2D graphics, movements are not very detailed, although it appears that the girl is wheeling her chair and in the grocery store has her basket in her lap. In this game, the representation of the girl in the wheelchair is cosmetic, adding exposure but not information. It reinforces commonly-viewed use without explanation for the disability or accommodation for it in any of the environments. Unlike the scenario of choice in Overcooked!, Move Out, or Toca Life, but as the neighborhood friends in Geoffrey at the Fair, implicit in the scenario of being one of a small group of six friends, is inclusion and affinity.

19 Moving Out developers commented they were influenced by game developer Jan Rigerl who previously released a game called Extreme Wheelchairing. “He had a lot of great feedback from people in wheelchairs saying that the game is really fun and it’s great that they get to look like the hero and thanking him for giving them that opportunity.” See at https://powerup-gaming.com/2020/03/18/ moving-outs-accessibility-options-and-inclusivity-set-a-new-standard/

20 Another raccoon, Rocket Raccoon, is a key character in the blockbuster movie series Guardians of the Galaxy (2014, 2017). Cross-media fan culture may have increased the raccoon chef’s popularity and set in motion the requests for including the character in the next version. https://steamcommunity.com/app/728880/discussions/0/1735462352463300618/

The Toca Life Series (4+) offers the wheelchair in many colors as a fashion accessory to its cast of hundreds. In this 2D animated sandbox, a child can populate different worlds with favorite people and pretend play on a touch tablet or mobile phone. Initially advertised showing young children, the app became popular with middle age and older children who participate in a large online community with posts and reviews. The characters and scenarios are similar to the Polly Pocket miniature playsets popular between 1989 and 2015.21 Access on a mobile phone is akin to being able to carry the actual mini sets in a pocket, purse, or knapsack. The games include the choice for adding a wheelchair to any character and for choosing the wheelchair style and color. As a changeable element in a character’s life, it appears a cosmetic addition. The characters are front view cutouts, legs are sometimes shortened to show a character is sitting down (as in the wheelchair), and arms move very slightly when holding something, but otherwise, the front view is not altered whether a character is on a bed or riding a horse (legs hidden behind the saddle). The wheelchaired person moves about and collects items in the same way as do the other children and is placeable in any of the worlds (park, store, home). Younger children use the characters and objects they move around as toys in their pretend play. Without reference for the implications of a wheelchair (i.e., some knowledge), they will not differentiate between characters with or without wheelchairs. This observation, accurate in isolation, is ingenuous in light of the integrated Toca world and the connected nature of society. Children’s introduction to Toca Life games is through parents or siblings who will inform about the purpose of a wheelchair. In addition, Toca Life stories, which are stories created using the sandbox games that are posted on the official YouTube Toca Boca channel as well as posted on YouTube independently by children, do feature children in wheelchairs. Toca Life stories have usually shown wheelchair users as equally capable: one of a morning routine shows exploration and collection without consideration of the difficulties of using a wheelchair. At the request of players on the Toca Boca Twitter channel, one story shows a different perspective. The story is about a girl who dances, has an accident, is unable to walk, and must use a wheelchair. She is then rehabilitated through physiotherapy and can dance again.22 This story shows sadness at not being able to walk/dance and the work required in physiotherapy for the girl to dance again. The wheel-

21 Polly Pocket Hospital Set has a wheelchair accessory.

22 Video: Girl in a Wheelchair Morning Routine - Toca Life. From a user: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=fgoBiZ-zqNQ. From Team Toca: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SMYS5I4_NY

chair represents loss and a disability that must be overcome. When creating their own representation through sandbox games, children reinforce the perspective they play. Social media then plays its part in disseminating such stories widely as suggestions for others to play.

In the 3D narrative game Last Day of June, a car crash results in Carl’s wife being killed and is the catalyst for his confinement to a wheelchair. The wheelchair is realistically depicted; Carl’s hands turn the wheels to move through his house. He maneuvers around obstacles and endures the difficulties that normally exist for a wheelchair user in a home, from getting a tin of food from a cupboard shelf to opening a door. Voice sound effects indicate the frustration some of these actions entail, adding to their realism for able children who are unfamiliar with the problems of using such a mobility aid. The representation provides an accurate simulation of a person becoming used to learning and coping with using a wheelchair. In this way, it is more than cosmetic, but it is only incidental, not instrumental to the gameplay of revisiting memories. It represents the tragedy of the car crash and sadness for the loss of human love, with which older children, with their increasing ability to conceptualize, can empathize.

The action-adventure Sly Cooper series features one of its main characters, Bentley, in a wheelchair. Bentley’s legs were crushed during the final battle in Sly 2: Band of Thieves by the enemy Clock-Lu’s beak. Sly gets him out of the hospital, and his actual condition (is he paralyzed? could he be cured?) is not known. As even after a year, he is still in a wheelchair, the implication is that this is now permanent (Sly 3). The disability and need to use a wheelchair appear as a symbol of his determination and ability to continue to help his friends. Sly 3 and later adventures show what using a wheelchair means to an action-oriented character. The wheelchair adds both strengths and weaknesses: Bentley has added to his abilities (jet engine, darts, robotic arms in his wheelchair), but he can no longer sneak across buildings or crawl in tight spaces, and when he is separated from his wheelchair, his paraplegia makes him helpless. Many of his new strengths are far-fetched, but the problems of being in a wheelchair, such as an inability to crawl behind a sofa to hide, are based in reality. In the games which follow, Bentley improves the technology on his wheelchair and continues to be a stalwart friend and helpful companion. As do many video game action-adventure narratives, the story negotiates between fantasy and reality. This comic hero representation is of determination and increasing confidence and skills in the face of odds. Skills required for the first game are at the upper end of PEGI 3; as has happened in other games, the game series begins in PEGI 3 but becomes progressively less appropriate for young children as the violence increases. As children move from PEGI 3 to PEGI 7 and their experiences of reality begin to move them

towards differentiating between a dream world and reality, this game provides opportunities to see disability through a representation that, while it is fantasy, is also based in fact. In Bentley, middle age to older children are exposed to a hero character who finds ways to successfully negotiate the world with a disability, at a stage in their development when they are looking to explore their own limitations within the world around them.

Marvel superheroes have, between them, a wide range of physical and cognitive disabilities: mobility disability, ADHD, depression, blindness. In the comics and movies, Professor X uses a wheelchair. In contrast, in the video game Lego Marvel Super Heroes (2013), he uses a hoverchair. Because he does not have a wheelchair that would allow him to switch

between two mobility aids, and the hoverchair is sufficiently unlike a wheelchair that it is no longer a reference to a disability (other than in the metanarrative), the hoverchair effectively erases Professor X’s disability. Adding a wheelchair to Professor X’s accessories as his means of getting around on the ground, in addition to the hovercraft as air transport, would have ensured a link between the disability and the hovercraft. Although LEGO users made wheelchairs out of existing LEGO pieces at the time, LEGO did not add a wheelchair to its sets until 2016, three years after the game was released.23 A wheelchair accessory would add extra meaning to the gameplay for children as they exchanged a wheelchair for a hoverchair and back. Bringing Professor X into their pretend play and actively making him a wheelchair ensures children have a clearer understanding as such constructivist learning is effective in building knowledge.

A disability that is more complex to represent than lower limb mobility disability is blindness. Older children are interested in experimenting with different ways of being in the world, and simulation provides them with safe outlets for their curiosity. Two types of unfolding are evoked in two very different games about blindness Beyond Eyes and Pulse. In both these games, a visible environment is revealed as the blind protagonists move forward using echolocation, which is used to perceive the environment by localizing sounds and echoes of these sounds to a specific area. Play in Beyond Eyes, which is in third-person perspective, the player is distanced from the immediacy of the action. They play a young girl, Rae, who has had an accident caused by fireworks at a celebration. She is seen in a hospital bed with bandages

23 Players have taken the initiative to build Professor X in a wheelchair out of parts and shared the instructions. Player created mini-figure https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-52138/g.lego.customs/ wheelchair-professor-x/#details

on her eyes; then, sitting on a bench in her garden, her head hung low. This sad demeanor is a representation of the loss of her sight. They will feel sad with her. The graphics are lyrical watercolours, and the space is beautiful and serene. Ray’s companion cat and ally, Nani, disappears, and she stands up and finally leaves her bench to go out to find him. She uses touch and sound, both what she feels (the ground beneath her feet, the fence) and hears (birds, water fountain), to find her way. The space beyond her immediate environment is white and empty and, as she walks towards the sounds she hears, is populated with a water-colored landscape – flowers, grass, trees, a path, a fountain – that then remains visible. Rae’s movement forward is slow, hesitant, with few interactions. It is this sense of slowness and hesitancy and the need for repeated forays into spaces to make them appear that seems the essence of the caution someone newly blind would feel. Middle age to older children are exploring the world around them and pushing its boundaries. The representation of a girl who uses echolocation to find her way corresponds to older children’s interest in testing the world.

Gameplay in Pulse is first person and more immediate. The game is rated PEGI 7 but 13+ by Common Sense Media. This discrepancy is unusual and reflects how experiencing a first- person visual and sound environment can appear menacing to some and not to others. Pulse is a survival story of a girl, Eva, who sets out to save her land. She lost her sight in her childhood, uses echolocation to find her way, and can only see what she can hear. This means the player can only see what is revealed directly ahead of them as they move forward as Eva. Echolocation creates wooden boardwalk steps, flowered forest floors, and rock pathways as Eva steps on them; at times, wavery lines signify sound waves across the scene. When Eva stops walking, it is black. Soon the space is confusing, and the sounds of Eva’s footsteps together with the forest sounds, the reverberating sounds of echolocation, and Eva’s breathing create dissonance and add to the growing sense of apprehension. Such a space can be difficult to navigate both cognitively and emotionally. There seems little story to evoke a personal engagement with Eva and provide context that children would relate to. The stark raven image is at odds with the round white forest sprites, and neither evoke an impression of blindness either as part of the narrative or part of gameplay. The echolocation would engage an older children’s interest in experimenting with phenomena. The representation effectively creates the apprehension of walking uncertainly into the unknown, and because of that, frightening spaces, but the other imagery, the skull and bones, the giant gear, the raven, the forest sprites are not referenced in ways that assist children to associate them with the experience of being blind in such an environment.

In the game Weakless, the representation is of two characters, each with a different disability, working together in collaboration. The Blind One and The Deaf One, two treelike creatures called Weavelings, set out to save their planet from a poisonous fog. Children must learn to switch back and forth between them to take advantage of each one’s abilities. When playing The Blind One, the world is filled with melodies while everything around them is black, white, and grey. When playing The Deaf One, the world is filled with vibrant colors while the sound around them is muted. The contrast provides a clearer picture of the nature of the disability as each can only undertake certain types of action. The Blind one can bang his cane on the ground to see his environment by echolocation, and the Deaf One can activate switches that are visible, cause and effect narratives that are remembered by middle age children in thinking about how they will negotiate future events. These two characters can complete the puzzles and finish their quest by working together. This activates middle age children who are becoming more socially aware, begin to work with others, learn to collaborate, and negotiate successfully. After playing within one world for a time, the sense being used (i.e., practiced) is heightened. If only one disability were featured, although heightened because of extended play/practice, this heightening might not be noticed on quitting the game. When the player must switch to another paradigm within the game, i.e., from color to black and white, or from full to muted sound, the difference that practice has provided for is better noticed.24 An older child will be interested in comparing the two and even experimenting with the effects. Representation of the two disabilities working together provides a more accurate portrayal of each, shows to advantage how other senses are heightened, and encourages a positive approach to working together as a team while using individual abilities to benefit a quest.

Buster Baxter: Lung Defender introduces children to common triggers of asthma. Not often seen in games are health problems such as asthma which can severely limit children’s ability to interact with their surroundings. This game is based on the episode Buster’s Breathless in the very popular children’s PBS television series Arthur and is intended to be educational. Gameplay is very simple, suitable for the youngest of PEGI 3 players. At the beginning of the game, Baxter says he has asthma, and that means there are certain things in the air (triggers) that make it hard for him to breath. A ship flies into Buster’s lungs to help catch some of these bad triggers and prevent asthma attack. This is a simple scrolling game through

24 See review and walk through at IndieDirect, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r79WCE_wKbM

a passageway in which mites appear progressively more quickly, and the player zaps them by clicking. If not enough mites are caught, the lungs constrict, and an inhaler appears. Children can grab the inhaler, which provides a puff that opens up the lungs again. The game shows triggers (cigarette smoke, cat dander) and shows what the triggers do physically (narrow breathing passageways) but does not show Baxter in any situational contexts that clearly show the problems caused in everyday life. The agency the game gives children has no relation to what they can actually do about avoiding asthma triggers, although they get to activate the inhaler when it is needed. The game is strongly connected to the video and both need to be experienced for the representation in the game to have the context needed for children to relate catching mites to how the disability affects Baxter.

Representation in virtual reality can bring a greater sense of engagement with the character and the disability. In the VR game Moss, the deaf mouse Quill becomes a positive symbol of deafness as she successfully completes her quest. Her use of American Sign Language to communicate (even though this is not often), together with her engaging personality, strike a chord in players and is particularly noted for its realism by deaf and HoH (hard of hearing) players in their reviews.25 Her disability does not impede her from undertaking the task of a traditional hero: saving her uncle, who has been captured by the fire-breathing snake Sarffog. In the game, the player acts as Quill’s protector, and VR gives them the opportunity to get close to Quill, personally make her healthy again when she has suffered a hit, pet her when she’s tired, and be able to read what she says as she signs. This personal engagement with the cute mouse, and the opportunity to see her using sign language as a hero in this adventure game, make for a representation of the disability that is positive and enabling. The drawing style, is similar to traditional Disney animations associated with heroes of character, adds to the impression it will make on younger players.

One set of games that is often forgotten but which has been important in adding to how young children view disability is those based on familiar children’s story characters who have disabilities, particularly characters in Disney films (Resene, 2017).26 Captain Hook in

25 See Accessibility Reviews at https://caniplaythat.com/2019/01/29/deaf-game-review-moss/ review and video posted on Facebook in American Sign Language at https://www.facebook.com/ watch/?v=464470617299523

26 Disney’s history of representation of disability in films begins with Dopey, one of the seven dwarves, who is shown as being intellectually challenged, in the company’s first feature Snow White (1937).

Peter Pan (missing hand), Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh (depression), and Dory from Finding Nemo (short-term memory) are featured in games in which their disability is a part of the storyline. Young children, who have first encountered these characters in movies, television, and books, have a view of the character which is cumulatively based on the representations in the different media (see Schema), which, given Disney’s interest in appealing to its audience, are usually sympathetically, if stereotypically, represented.27 Children take the view of the character, how the disability affects their behavior, and how their social environment reacts to them into their gameplay.

In Peter Pan, A Story Painting Adventure, and Return to Never Land, the villainous and comic Captain Hook has a hook instead of a hand. He uses the hook very adroitly to aid him in his actions, from pointing threateningly with it to hanging on to rigging as he is fighting. It is an obvious part of him, and although he comments on missing his hand, he uses the hook to his advantage to do many things. It is a representation not so much of his hand, as of both losses of his hand and of his villainousness. Even when seen on its own, as in the introductory credits to A Story Painting Adventure, it has come to herald his presence. It is more a representation of Captain Hook than of a disability. The Captain suffers anxiety when he hears a clock tick because of the circumstances of losing his hand. The alligator, that is said to have swallowed his hand when it was cut off by Peter, has also swallowed a clock, which can be heard as the alligator continues to search for the delectable Captain. Peter teases him by putting his hand up to his ear and saying, “is that a clock ticking?” The Captain’s anxiety is treated in a comic fashion, but it is, nevertheless, anxiety, and Peter teases and bullies him about it. The original book and theatrical presentation were for older children, but the animated version created in the 1950s and the games that were created in the 1990s and early

27 For a discussion of the representation of disability in Disney films: From Evil Queen to Disabled Teen: Frozen Introduces Disney’s First Disabled Princess by Michelle Resene, Disabled Studies Quarterly, Vol 37, No 2 (2017). From the article, “Although Elsa’s disability is encoded as a magical ice power, the language the film uses to talk about her condition maps on to the experiences of people with physical, mental, and intellectual disabilities in recognizable ways.” The current sandbox Disney Infinity 3.0 includes Elsa and other Frozen characters for which environments and gameplay can be created. There are no other standalone games in which Elsa’s character can be explored (the match-3 puzzle game Frozen Free Fall does not refer to Elsa’s abilities in any way). https://www.reddit.com/r/Frozen/ comments/hyld8t/why_is_there_no_frozen_video_game/.

2000s were intended for middle age children and even young children. The representation of disability in these games associates the physical disability with villainy and encourages negation of the anxiety associated with the event that caused the disability.28

In the popular film Finding Nemo (2003), Nemo’s right fin is a little smaller than the typically-sized fin on his left. In the opening scene of the movie, a barracuda attacks Marlin and Coral’s eggs (Nemo’s parents). Coral is killed, and only one egg, with a small crack, survives the attack – Nemo. Later in the movie, Marlin explains to Nemo’s friends that he was born with the smaller fin, and it’s called his lucky fin. This is also when Pearl, the little octopus, says she has one shorter tentacle, and Sheldon, the seahorse, says he is H20 intolerant. As is the case with most Disney animated films, Finding Nemo generated many different video games.29 Most are arcade-style games in which, although the fin is shown smaller, there is no explanation for it being that way, and game play does not change because because of it. In Finding Nemo (2003), the video game which has more narrative, Nemo’s dad is constantly asking if it’s ok and Nemo shows disdain for these comments with rolling eyes as he is able to complete all the tasks in the games. The representation of the excessive overprotective father results in Nemo diving down deep into the ocean to the “butt” to show he can. This reflects what middle age and older children, who are becoming more autonomous, would do. Nemo completes all tasks until he needs to escape from the tank in the dentist’s office. In the game, he is given the training to use his fin more effectively by Gill before his second, more successful escape. The representation is of learning to use the fin to advantage in a challenging situation, similar to training for the Olympics; it is not a loss of ability.

28 Written at the beginning of the 20th century, when sentiments differed, this comic approach to disability was common. Similar theatrical and film presentations influenced generations throughout the nineteen hundreds.

29 The evolution of Finding Nemo games based on the film: Finding Nemo (GBA), Finding Nemo (PS2, Gamecube, XBOX), Finding Nemo (PC), Nemo’s Underwater World of Fun (PC), Finding Nemo 2 (GBA), Finding Nemo: Escape to the Big Blue (DS, 3DS), Nemo’s Reef (iOS, Android), Disneyland Adventures (X360, PC, XB1, Rush a Disney Pixar Adventure (X360, PC, XB1), Disney Infinity 3.0 (PS4, XB1, PS3), Finding Dory (Android, iOS). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ5dlupP_Xo

Cognitive disability

Nemo’s friend Dory takes us into the representation of cognitive and social/emotional disabilities. As with Nemo, children bring knowledge of Dory’s disability from the movie into gameplay. Dory has a memory impairment and does not embed short-term memory. The representation of her disability is accurate – she can’t remember what she’s just heard. The movie shows her as curious, very positive, and always trying to help others. So that rather than being shied away from or disparaged, she is well-liked. She is one of the three playable characters in the game Finding Nemo and is featured in the Mask Search. The cut scenes between each challenge have her acting forgetfully. “You look just like the fish back there.” Although Nemo’s father reacts to her forgetfulness with exasperation, Dory’s positive response always negates this. There is no disadvantage to playing Dory, her ability to maneuver is the same as the others. Practice at being skilled, even when having a disability, reinforces the positive in the schema being added to her memory disability: while she may be forgetful, she is nevertheless very capable in other ways. She gets her own game in Finding Dory: Just Keep Swimming, an app made to promote the film of the same name. Dory begins the game but states outright that she suffers from short-term memory loss and immediately displays forgetting her memory. But she’s going to tell you the story of finding her parents, Charlie and Jennie, despite the faulty memory and does so via the cut scenes between games. Representation is of a positive approach, lack of self-consciousness, persistence, and a confident “I knew I’d find you!” at the end. Gameplay supports this as the player can’t fail. If Dory falls behind because the player isn’t quick enough in giving her swimming directions or bumps into too many walls, Dory will retell that part of the story so that kids can play it again. As Dory is an animated character, a cute Disney one at that, the positive representation of accomplishment is accessible to even young children. It provides to middle age and older children a representation of positive response to cognitive disability by others, an example of social response that, rather than denigrating, encourages friendly engagement.

Games that feature Winnie the Pooh and his friends are based on the Winnie the Pooh

movies, television programs, and books. Each friend has a distinct personality, and stories include Eeyore’s depression and Piglet’s anxiety as problems that are coped with on a daily basis and that their friends occasionally help them with.30 Over time these characters have

30 Although Pooh’s constant concern with his weight and Tigger’s irrepressible bounciness are also part of the storylines, they are not treated as negative characteristics.

themselves become representative of these disabilities. Eeyore is often seen with his head hanging, making comments about how difficult life is, and getting progressively more gloomy throughout the day. This and other ways he acts are accurate portrayals of a depressive disorder. Piglet is constantly flustered and anxious about events, always thinking that they will go wrong. He shakes and is often scared or nervous, and his behavior is an accurate portrayal of an anxiety disorder (Lack, Sarah E. Shea, 2000). In the game Winnie the Pooh Kindergarten, Winnie is intent on giving Eeyore a birthday party. Piglet’s anxiety increases because of the party planning, and, to help, Winnie paints a picture that Piglet can give to Eeyore as a present. The representation of anxiety is in the cutscenes. The games within the story are skill-based and skillfully blended into the storyline so that players can help Piglet by, in one game, painting a picture. These two characters’ personalities are invariable, whatever the media; their behavior is not presented in terms of depression and anxiety but as being of concern and something to help with, the representation that is effective for young and middle age children.

Cognitive or emotional/social disabilities such as autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and ADHD, are more difficult to represent, with only a few PEGI 3 games depicting these. Most have been created by individuals who have personal experience with children with disabilities or by organizations that advocate on behalf of such disabilities for the purpose of encouraging understanding of how the disability affects children. Zanny, Born to Run, is a funny interactive tablet story about a young boy who cannot sit still that includes clickable and moveable objects. The text tells about the disability, and each illustration and moveable represents a different characteristic and portrays the feeling and the resulting action that goes with it: not being able to sit still and the need to run around is accompanied by feet twirling in a circle. The book is promoted for special needs children 3+ as helping to show they are not alone in the world. Pre-school children’s self-interest does not evolve to be self-conscious

about being different until they are school age and into middle years. Suggesting to very young children (3-5) that they have a problem others share provides a schema of disability rather than competency from a young age. The movables are typical interactive activities and each, while it is intended to be specific to the issue of not being able to sit still, is a common type of activity children are involved in the play. As a representation, the text may be read to guide the interactivity with the purpose of sharing feelings, not educating about a “difference” other children may also have. Children age 3-5 are not able to read the book on their own; they will only interact with the movables, an activity that does not necessarily translate

as knowledge about the disability but simply as fun for everyone. Apps are available on tablets that will read the story, and these often substitute for parents and caregivers in this role but provide less information as parents will often augment reading text with comments. The representation is accurate for older children and for adults to empathize with.

The interactive book Axel’s Chain Reaction provides a different approach: it shares some of the difficulties of being ADHD and then provides an activity that engages an ADHD child and suggests the readers participate in a similar activity. It is for middle age to older children. The story has introductory representational scenes that provide sound effects and movement, which reflect the noisy confusion of an environment (basketball court) that an ADHD child might be experiencing. Following the experiential confusion of the basketball court and comments by other students, representation in the remainder of the story is of creative problem solving that can be engaged in as a function of the disability. This is also reinforced by text that poses Axel as a problem solver and by activities that build on the idea of not just competency but creative problem solving as a function of the disability. The representation of the disability as a difficulty in the introduction to the book is then followed by a story of the successful completion of creative projects. This is similar to Kenny’s story in Backyard Baseball Junior: introductory scenes indicate that the disability has some drawbacks, following scenes show success. Axel’s Chain Reaction provides a positive spin of a representation of a disability by having players participate in the success that can occur when children with ADHD engage in activities suitable to their talents.

Games for older children that tackle cognitive disabilities can reflect sensitivity in representing an experiential world for the player to enter. The PEGI 7 first-person adventure game, Ether One, is a story about Jean Thomson, a patient with dementia. The player engages first hand with images from Jean’s mind as “the Restorer,” someone who enters the minds of patients and cures them of mental illnesses by repairing their broken memories. The memories become increasingly disordered and chaotic as details of Jean’s life unfold. The representation of deterioration is consistent with what is known about dementia and simulates

the reality of the disability effectively. The Restorer, as narrator, adds an external view and a comment that searching through memory is an experiment that may have been taken too far: the process of memory searching is questioned. This representation of concern about the process is one the older children would take up in their quest for understanding the world. The first-person play is more experiential than third-person, and the accuracy in representation provides a seriousness and weight to the depiction that influences perception. For older

children who may have family in this situation, the game would create a visual representation of a difficulty not easily understood that they could integrate into their schema of dementia.

In the game Auti-Sim, the representation of hypersensitivity that some autistic children experience is said to be striking in its authenticity. The player walks through a playground, and as they come closer to groups of children, the noise and visual static increase until the environment is filled with audio and visual distortion that is almost unbearable. Relief comes

as the player moves away from the children, and there is a reduction in static until all is quiet again in a peaceful treed area. Because the environment is the one they would have experienced many times – a playground, with children playing on play equipment, running around, chatting – a PEGI 7 player has context for the simulation and is familiar with the way they themselves would participate in such an environment. The startling representation of an environment distorted by static effectively demonstrates for older, neurotypical children someone else’s perspective, one they are able to appreciate because they are at an age when they are interested in what others think and feel. The difficulty of being around other children even for a short period of time when someone has hypersensitivity is something they can, as older children, empathize with as they encounter abrasive static and compare it to what would normally be a pleasant and enjoyable space. Such a representation is also effective in encouraging adults to develop new attitudes towards the difficulty.31

Content rating systems and cognitive development

The basis for the grouping of games in this chapter are the video game ratings PEGI 3 and PEGI 7. These indicators provide guidance that a video game’s content is suitable for children as young as three in one case and as young as seven in the other. PEGI is one system among others the gaming industry uses. Education/edutainment games such as DreamBox Learning Math and Granny Prix Multi-Player are not generally rated as they are based on the skill level of the subject matter being studied, which is most often grade-based.

Rating systems had their start in 1994 with North America’s Entertainment Software Rating Board system, ESRB. ESRB rating was and still is, based on content rather than skill

31 A study that looked at the effectiveness of the game in changing perceptions indicated, “Engagement with the virtual simulation resulted in heightened perspective taking, which subsequently increased emotional concern, helping intentions, and willingness to volunteer compared with the observation only or text vignette intervention” (Sarge, Kim, & Velez, 2020).

or cognitive development. Initially, ESRB created five age-based ratings that included younger children: “Early Childhood,” “Kids to Adults,” “Teen,” “Mature,” and “Adults Only.” “Kids to Adults” was changed to “Everyone” in 1998.32 E10+, as well as descriptors such as Comic Violence, were added in 2005 to differentiate between entire family and children 10 and older, and identify why. The Early Childhood rating was retired in 2018. An ESRB Twitter account comment made in April 2019 notes, “Yes, we retired the eC rating last year around this time. There were SO few games that fit the criteria, and the argument could almost always be made that E was also applicable for those titles!” “Few games” is contrary to the many titles created for kindergarteners, preschoolers, toddlers, and even babies every year. Elimination of this age rating also denies the fact that children’s needs and skills, as established by child development research, are different from those of older children, teens, and adults, making the ESRB rating close to useless for parents seeking guidance for games suitable for young children.

Different rating systems were created because of individual society’s approaches to child development and, correspondingly, the appropriateness of content for younger age groups. Also, video games increasing prevalence and de facto inclusion in many societies’ cognitive toolset has motivated the creation of ratings more culturally acceptable for different norms. In 2003, the Interactive Software Federation of Europe introduced the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) system with 3, 7, 12, 16, and 18 as category markers. PEGI replaced existing ESRB and other local systems and is currently used in 35 European countries. PEGI age ratings more directly map on cognitive development theory than do ESRB age ratings and, by implication, are a more useful guide for parents who are interested in the suitability of a game for their child’s age.

Content rating systems can be opaque, leaving parents questioning how a rating was arrived at. In the US, parent-based advocacy consumer groups such as Common Sense Media began to provide ratings to fill what they saw were gaps in ESRB ratings. Common Sense Media provides a rating system (0-2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc.) that includes a rating by an expert panel, one based on parent’s reviews and another based on kid reviews. The actual parent and kid reviews are provided for reference. Common Sense Media has a secondary five-star

32 “Video game ratings are great for today’s games, but may struggle with gaming’s future.” Brian Crecente. Sep 22, 2014. https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/22/6828699/video-game-ratings-aregreat-for-todays-games-but-may-struggle-with

rating for Educational Value, Positive Messages, Positive Role Models & Representations, Ease of Play, Violence, Sex, Language (Bad), Consumerism, Drinking, and Drugs & Smoking. TamingGaming.com, a family-oriented video game database, has included a skill rating (similar to the Common Sense Media Ease of Play) which adds a useful category when considering how a child is likely to interact physically with a game at a specific age of development. An example of how ratings may not accurately show suitability for an age group are two games similar in their gameplay, Overcooked! and Moving Out.

• Overcooked! ratings are PEGI 3, ESRB Everyone, Common Sense Media 8+, Taming-

Gaming skill rating 7-13.

• Moving Out ratings are PEGI 3. ESRB Everyone. Common Sense Media 8+, Taming-

Gaming skill rating 6+.

The ratings are a challenge to understand when trying to decide how suitable a game is for a specific age. Overcooked! online reviews say it is a fun, very fast-paced game that speeds up very quickly and is stressful even at lower levels. Moving Out speeds up but is never as fast or as stressful.33 An analysis of the two games identifies several reasons why it is not as fast or stressful: the busyness of the activity (number of actions that are necessary to accomplish the task), familiarity with the objects and activities, and familiarity with the process. A cooking environment, which requires many small items to be acquired and moved quickly, is inherently busier than that of moving a home which includes the manipulation of a variety of different sized, some quite large, objects. Choosing ingredients, preparing them by chopping, assembling them onto a plate is a complex schema. Three-year-olds pretend play in their toy kitchens. The purpose of play in Overcooked! is not pretend play but speed. Cognitively young children are not prepared for such an activity. By the time children are seven, they have been exposed to demands of speed through competitions, kindergarten, and early grade training and are cognitively ready. On the other hand, even children three years old are familiar with the objects in a home such as a lamp, rug, or sofa, and especially smaller items like paper, boxes, and especially their toys, many of which they have already had experience moving from room to room. Cognitively they are prepared for such an activity. The same qualifier about speed can be applied here as for Overcooked! Pretend play is occupied with creating a narrative, not how fast that narrative can be completed. Competitiveness and

33 https://www.psu.com/news/hands-on-moving-out-is-house-removal-overcooked-without-thestress/

speed enter the picture closer to age seven. Both games, in particular Overcooked!, speed up and move players to a higher level of complexity quickly. There is an assumption that lower levels (fewer choices, slower play) deal with the needs of younger children, who should then be able to play these levels comfortably. This is not the case. Younger children may simply not have the cognitive and physical ability to take on the different tasks required and can become overly frustrated in their attempts to master these tasks. TamingGaming suggests 7-13 as the skill rating for Overcooked!, which suggests a PEGI 7 rating is more suitable than the PEGI 3 rating.

An additional feature of Overcooked! is cooperative play, which is reviewed as being “more fun.” Each child’s ability to play cooperatively is based on their experience of such play and is a skill children begin to develop as they move from a dependent home environment to a more autonomous and social school environment, usually beginning ages 5-7. Even the less frantic cooperative play in Moving Out may be out of reach for those who have not had the opportunity to play with others this way. Cooperative play comes into its own with older children.

Does the depiction of a wheelchair have any effect on the rating in these two games? As the wheelchair does not add to the characters’ ability, it does not add to the game content or play and does not affect the rating.

Are the ratings any use to someone who is looking for guidance in purchasing these games? The skill ratings map closest to cognitive abilities. Using the PEGI 3 or Everyone rating as a guide to purchasing the game for children age 3-5 is likely to result in its not being played after a couple of frustrating tries, even by those children who have been exposed to many games by that age.

The assumption definition of disability in this chapter is that it is a variant of the norm. Physical disability may include difficulty with or the inability to see, hear, speak, or move in normal/standard ways. Cognitive disability includes an inability to act within an accepted norm cognitively, emotionally, or socially. Representation of disability in video games can differ significantly in what it references. Whether for PEGI 3 or for PEGI 7, games can be cosmetic and neutral, providing exposure but not gameplay utility as in the games Moving Out and

Overcooked! It can be incidental, used as a device that provides purpose for the narrative, as in Last Day in June, or it can accurately represent the disability and show how the character copes with their disability, as in Weakless, Sly Cooper: Honor Among Thieves, or Beyond Eyes. The most valuable type of representation provides players with exposure and engagement that adds understanding and meaning about the disability represented. How representation is perceived by children depends in large part on where they are in the cognitive development process. Are they still in their magic dreamworld with pretend play that is all about Eeyore and Piglet? Are they beginning to socialize outside their home and family and thinking about including Kenny in their next baseball team? Are they questioning the world and figuring out how they fit in it when they are experiencing Jean’s confused thoughts? Whichever stage of development they are proceeding through, the dynamic schema that helps structure their experience of the world assimilates and accommodates new information about the many kinds of physical disability and cognitive disability that games now show, deafness in Weakless and Moss, blindness in Beyond Eyes and Pulse, autism in Axel’s Chain Reaction and Auti-Sim. Each new exposure and engagement external to the cultural norms that mold young children nuances their schema and moves it farther away from those cultural norms, especially as children aim to be autonomous and no longer dependent on their parents’ ideas as they progress through later childhood towards adolescence. The representation in the games identified in this review, first exposes children to the disability, identifying its existence, then it encourages them to engage with the disability through different game genres, and finally, it provides a learning experience through repeated play. The old adage all advertising is good advertising can be applied here. Yes, there are issues in how representation of disability is at times simply cosmetic, or is not accurate, or is linked to characters parents may find violent (like Bentley), or told in frightening stories (like Pulse). Today, more so than at any other time in existence, each attempt at representation has a social world of reviewers and critics to mitigate its value. But the deaf person who creates a video in which she notes that Quill really only signs a few times nevertheless praises Moss for the breakthrough approach of including a mouse protagonist who signs in American Sign Language.34

Not all games require, as was stated at the beginning of this chapter, that “…representation of disability in children’s games should provide players with exposure and engagement that adds understanding and helps them create meaning about the disability represented.”

34 Moss Facebook review in sign language, https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=464470617299523

Arcade-type games with sprites, some of whom are represented in a wheelchair, is one way to be inclusive of the diversity in our society. While it is important to acknowledge and to embrace all moves forward, future work that progresses from this brief overview of PEGI 3 and PEGI 7 games is necessary to assist game designers, educators, and policy-makers with ideas about best practices in the representation of disability. Examining more closely how representation has changed in games since the 1990s and analyzing societal reasons for change would round out historical information. Understanding whether representation has changed societal attitudes, and in what way, will require looking at changes in games in parallel to changes in representation in other media such as television and social media news, films, and videos. Having more information on how representation of disability is viewed by children with these disabilities would provide context for the authenticity and accuracy of the experience. A program of research based on these directions will provide a solid base for developing a set of best practices.