Continuing the article by Henry Jenkins, is a look at the differences between boy and girl spaces and how game developers used them in game making.
The boy space was explained by giving examples of boy books. In books aimed towards young male readers, adventure is the goal. Adventure and exploration consumes the reader by immersing them in large spaces with fights for survival and treasures. These childhood stories as well as the experiences of backyard play as a boy, lead to the games we make for our children today.
Part of the articles that was describing "girl space" looked at this specific game called "Secret Paths". This game had a few other versions, but the one in the articles was about forests. The game appeals to girls because it involves personal improvement and transformation. I looked up a playthrough of this game and learned that it was like a story book about girl problems. The game's home screen is a treehouse (can be changed) with a sign that says "girls only" along with books on the floor and a scenic background outside. This room can be decorated by clicking. By looking through the books you learn a specific girls problem and follow a path through the forest to learn more about the problem and how she overcomes it.
This girl space topic reminded me of the games i played as a child. My parents usually bought my sister and I Barbie or movie PC games like "Ariel's Story Studio" (1997) and "Anastasia: Adventures with Pooka and Bartok" (1997). They were mostly stories that you walked through that included some girl related things. One game I played many many hours of was a Barbie makeover game where you just dressed up Barbie with different makeup and accessories. I might make a Let's Play about that. Haha.
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