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Re: [Fwd: Kids Game Builder version 0.0.1]



> From: aleris@iag.net
>
> In that spirit I guess I have a non-technical question.  What do we want to use
> as authoritative sources of information?  Generally math and the sciences are no
> problem, because those subjects naturally scale with difficulty.  History
> strikes me as a little foggier of a subject - a lot of what I was taught in
> school about history turned out not to be true, but only convenient myth.  (Or
> as one of my teachers told me once, "it's easier to teach this way")  My
> background isn't in education.  How do we want to proceed about this?
>

It is actually a touchy subject. I'm glad somebody brought it up.  I think it is important to address the
subject early on. Do we want our audience to be american children, or just children of any origin from
any country. Obviously I favor the second solution. One obvious way to do this is to provide support for
foreign languages, which shouldn't be too hard with the kind of database we talked about earlier.  A more
subtle way is with content. Using Tux as a mascot and other cartoon characters should appeal to almost
any kids, right ? Well, how about a kid leaving in a city where there is no zoo, and he has never seen a
real penguin before ? This might be a little far-fetched, but what I'm trying to say is that something
that might seem like a given to some people might be completely lost on others, or might even be
offensive to them ! Not to mention the influence you can have on kids, without even realizing it.

For example, my wife (who teaches 2nd grade) is always amazed (and saddened) to see every year the number
of little girls in her class who want to grow up "to be blond" because all their dolls are blond, and the
books they read (while learning to read) have characters with blond hair. (I have nothing against being
blond, this is just an example of how culture influences a child's development).

Right now, we can just focus of getting something done.  I just think we should pay attention to those
kind of details once we start developing story lines and characters.

Chris.

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