[games_access] Design for children

[Ian Hamilton]

* Boys are hugely more likely to be put off by the idea that something isn't gender-appropriate than girls are.

From: i_h at hotmail.com
To: games_access at igda.org
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2014 12:43:50 +0100
Subject: Re: [games_access] Design for children




I'd keep the age brackets at a maximum of 2-3 years at that age, reducing as you get younger, as the differences increase the younger you get, 2 year olds are wildly different to 4 year olds.
There are two great resources that I'd thoroughly recommend, one free, one paid. From everything I've seen in internal kids' testing, I'd agree with pretty much everything in both of the reports.
Free: http://www.sesameworkshop.org/wp_install/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Best-Practices-Document-11-26-12.pdfPaid: http://www.nngroup.com/reports/children-on-the-web/ (web, but the same design principles apply for games too)
A couple of other important principles that aren't mentioned in the report: 
Age bias
Age your visuals up and your interaction down. So if you're designing for 6-8, when thinking about interaction think of 5 year olds, and when thinking about visuals think about 9 year olds.
Kids aren't put off by things that are easy to use. But a child who encounters something that is too complex or confusing will be turned off more quickly than an adult, as they're more likely to assume that the problem is with the product rather than themselves, and also have restricted time (eg. one hour of free time before dinner, or having to wait for a turn on a single device shared between sibling) and many other things competing for best use of that time ('this game is broken, I'm going to play football instead').
And visually, children who see something that is way too old for them will think it's for adults, and therefore boring. But something that's a little too old for them is cool - see older siblings, older kids at school etc.
However if something seems too young it will often be seen as babyish, and instantly off-putting, age perception is a huge issue for kids. I had an 8 year old in a test who hated something and was insistent that he would never use it, turned out the reason was that he thought it was aimed at 7 year olds.
Gender bias
If you're aiming for something that will appeal to both genders, go for a very slightly male bias. Boys are hugely more likely to be put off by the idea that something isn't gender-appropriate than boys are.
Cultural differences
Tastes vary between countries, so check what's popular in the markets that you're targetting. For example any time we outsourced kids' design work to agencies in the USA, what we received was always a year or two younger than what would have been suitable for kids' tastes in the UK. Ian
From: four at nucleus.com
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2014 11:58:32 +0100
To: games_access at igda.org
Subject: [games_access] Design for children

Quick question. Can anyone share any resources for design for children?
6 to 8 years old9 to 12 years old
Or you may have other suggested age ranges?
Siobhan
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