‘Wii play as a family’: the rise in family-centred video gaming
The idea that video gaming is for the ‘whole family’, to be played in the communal space of the living room, has gained momentum since the release of Microsoft Xbox, Sony Playstation and Nintendo Wii. This article addresses the growing popularity in family-centred video gaming in the British context by examining the design, promotion, instatement and use of this new media technology in the home. Research on the domestication of media technology is drawn on to examine the social impulses and conditions under which family-centred video gaming is introduced in the home as a domestic leisure activity. In response to parental anxieties about children’s disengagement from family life through new media use, industry-led claims that video gaming can foster family harmony are appealing. Representations of family gaming in the Wii commercials are analysed in relation to the findings of recent independent surveys on emerging patterns of gaming between parents and children. Policy issues emerge about the potential social and educational benefits of family-centred gaming and assumptions about them made in surveys and government-commissioned reports. Important questions are raised about the family dynamics of video gaming and children’s potential to benefit from this family-centred media entertainment in diverse family contexts.