Review of 'Moral Kombat and Computer Game Girls'.

Computer games help children come to terms with new technologies, assist problem solving and fuel their imagination. They bring great pleasure to teenagers, train them to respond quickly, stimulate their imagination and interest in electronics and computer science. I think computer games are a kind of wonderful entertainment, which teach and let children enjoy themselves while they learn. They allow for a new and different way of learning.

There are many examples of educational and positive computer games for children. For example, there is an entire business dedicated to developing more challenging and interesting software for children. Some programs are designed to allow children to explore different places or environments, and others are developed to teach specific facts or academic skills as Cunningham highlights in her article.

Another aspect of games Cunningham covers in violence in games; children of today are surrounded by technology and entertainment that is full of violence. Children spend hours in front of the computer screen playing games, some of which have a violent theme. They can become more aggressive and violent after they had just lost a computer game and the words 'Game Over' have appeared on the screen.

Children playing violent computer games are a very serious threat to an increasingly violent society, these children may start doing more and more negative things if they are playing violent games and not engaged in other less violent activities like reading. Young children who play computer games tend to imitate the actions of video game characters; and the violence in those computer games can give them the idea that violence is an acceptable way to deal with problems and conflict. However Cunningham argues that violent games don't make people violent, "Yet the aggression felt in computer game play is vented on the screen," are not people; and playing computer games can "relieve stress, tension, an pent-up aggression"

It's not only males who need to relieve stress, as Cunningham points out, girls play computer games too. "The move of computer games from 'street culture' in the arcades to 'bedroom culture' in the home, which is welcomed by many parents who were relieved that their children had taken up home-based activities rather than 'hanging around' in the streets," it has also encouraged girls to play games, "This domestication of computer games has fed into girls' existing 'bedroom culture'" Cunningham argues.

Nowadays, there is a large number of girls who are enjoying playing computer games, games aren't dominantly a boys' activities anymore. As the example Cunningham mentioned in, not only boys are interested in playing computer games with either. Girls like and enjoy being able to fight and win the games when playing against brothers or male peers

Moreover, as more girls appear to join in playing computer games, there must be more female designers who enter this industry, and there must be more female characters come out and available for all girls as Cunningham argues in her article.

Cunningham makes her observations and informal interviews for this article of her ten-year-old sister Julie, and a group of Julie's best friends. As she said, "this research cannot be seen as representative of young girls' involvement with computer games in general." Also, it doesn't stand for all people's opinions and it is limited in a way, it just focus on a group of "lower-middle-class ten-year-old" girls. It still needs a lot more research to be carried out on the appeal of games to females of all ages.

Even though Cunningham used a small group as an example for research, the article still has some positive points as I mentioned above. In short, parents, educators, have raised concerns about the content of computer games such as violence, aggression and gender stereotyping. Other issues of concern include computer game addiction and the influence of game playing on academic performance, motivation, personality and other aspects of behavior. However as Cunningham shows for many children, computer games have become a positive part of their educational, social and cultural experience.

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