The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has substantiated play for play’s sake, thus focusing on the doing or being of play rather than any potentially desired outcomes. Examining this type of play from the perspective of the child acknowledges children as meaning-makers. A scoping review was conducted to expose and map the extent of the evidence available in the emerging and diverse field of children’s experiences of play in digital spaces. Specifically, the literature was examined with regards to relevance to children’s everyday lives, the personal and ecological relevance, and the methods used. A systematic search of the literature over the past fifteen years found thirty-one articles appropriate for inclusion. The analysis of the literature revealed that the articles formed four categories of how play in digital spaces was approached: ‘Videogames, behaviours, and societal norms’, ‘Videogames for its own sake’, ‘Videogames for learning’, and ‘Active Videogames for health promotion’. This scoping review has identified a lack of articles focusing on children’s experiences of play in a digital space, and these perspectives are essential for parents, professionals, game designers, and policymakers alike to contribute to an enhanced understanding of the role of play in digital spaces.
Play for play's sake is viewed a child's primary occupation from which meaning is derived that transcends it's inherent health, educational or other such value. Examined from this perspective is to acknowledge the intrinsic contribution the doing of play contributes the child's being. The proliferation of technology in an ever-connected world offers increasingly diverse digital spaces for children to play. Such digital spaces present new opportunities for children to co-create new expressions of play; whether alone, with friends, indoors and outdoors, in real and in make-believe worlds. Despite literature in relation to play in digital spaces coming from a plethora of academic fields, this occupational perspective of play as a child-centred, autotelic pursuit remains largely ignored. This research will explore digital play choices, experiences, and outcomes from children's unique perspective. Furthermore, this research aims to reflect the rights and agency of children as meaning-makers and active contributors in inquiry [3], using creative and adaptive approaches through the research process.It is envisioned that this research will contribute to the understanding of the autotelic nature of play in digital spaces. Such understanding will assist children and adults to leverage technology to ensure that meaningful playful experiences proliferate in the future. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing; • Human computer Interaction (HCI); • HCI design and evaluation methods; • User studies;
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