A word from the editor
Authors: Lee Newton 
Published: August 2005

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the ACM Computers in
Entertainment magazine! The theme for this issue is Educating
Children Through Entertainment, with a focus on computer games and
education.
To get started, the Interviews section features video interviews
with Alan Kay and Roy E. Disney. Alan talked about soft fun versus
hard fun, and his research on Squeak for enhancing and amplifying
learning in children's education. Roy told us about educators
versus entertainers, and his views on traditional and CGI
animations.
In the Theories section of this issue, Miguel de Aguilera and
Alfonso Mendiz examine the potential of video games as a teaching
and learning tool, and offer a critical review of previous research
on the subject. Miki Baumgarten looks into planning and developing
successful Internet games for children based on research in child
development, psychology, education, and technology. Krystina Madej
takes us on a historical journey of children's narrative from the
Middle Ages to the digital era. She notes that philosopher John
Locke introduced in the late 1600s the now-obvious concept:
Children are not just miniature adults, but have their own needs.
Leslie Wilson draws from her own parenting experience in advocating
games that teach children creativity and positive thinking. And
John Crocker portrays a school of the future using personalized,
adaptive, and emotionally engaging content to educate students.
In the Applications section, Mark Mine, Joe Shochet, and Roger
Hughston present the design philosophy and technology for the
massively multiplayer game "Disney's Toontown Online," where
children learn collaboration, strategy, and creativity while having
fun in a 3-D virtual world. Glenda Revelle describes the Sesame
Workshop approach to educating children via entertainment media
such as television, video games, and DVD software. Henry Jenkins,
Eric Klopfer, Kurt Squire, and Philip Tan discuss the prototype
games and future classrooms in the Educational Arcade project
(formerly Games-to-Teach) as part of the MIT and Microsoft's
iCampus alliance. These simulation and augmented reality games
exemplify the kind of "hard fun" that Alan Kay describes in the
video interview. Jason Everett discusses the educational game "Hot
Shot Business," which teaches children entrepreneurship by
simulating the adventure of starting and running their own
businesses. And Christopher Romero applies some learning principles
to a Nickelodeon simulation game in wildlife rescue.
In the Book Reports section, James Paul Gee gives an overview of
his book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and
Literacy, in which he explains 36 principles for designing good
games. And Marc Prensky argues, in his book Digital Game-based
Learning, that video games are not the enemy, but the best
opportunity to engage kids in real learning.
When you read these papers, you will notice that a number of the
authors reference each other's work. This is purely fortuitous and
not a concerted effort by the editorial board. It only shows that
academia and the industry are aware of each other's work, learning
from one another, and promoting better entertainment for our
children. Recent news articles highlight the important role of
computer games in education and social studies: "Educators Turn to
Games for Help"
http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,59855,00.html, "Computer
games: Facts and fiction"
http://news.com.com/2010-1071-5065675.html, "Off to College to
Major in ...Video Games?"
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0829/p01s04-ussc.html
Continuing the theme of "Educating Children Through
Entertainment," the next issue in January 2004 will present
insightful papers on interactive theater, dance, music, story room,
play sets, virtual reality, entertainment robots, and more -- all
aimed for educating and entertaining children. We will interview
Quincy Jones and Seymour Papert. You certainly don't want to miss
the upcoming issues! In the meantime, check out the Coming Soon
section for a sneak preview of the future installments.
Now, who wants to win $25,000? The Liemandt Foundation, in
association with the Digital Media Collaboratory at the University
of Texas at Austin, has just launched an educational game
development contest open to full-time undergraduate and graduate
students. Details are given in the Letters to the Editor
section.
Looking ahead to 2004 and beyond, we will continue to present
many interesting and timely topics in the ACM Computers in
Entertainment magazine. As I was judging the Advanced Media
Technology Emmy Awards last month in New York City, I was
encouraged by the progress made in the interactive television
arena. iTV will be one of our upcoming themes. Please send us your
ideas on what topics you wish to see in the future issues of the
magazine.
Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all
authors, interviewees, reviewers, associate editors, ACM staff,
colleagues, and friends for their invaluable contributions to this
magazine. In particular, I wish to thank Alan Kay, Bob Lambert, Ken
Goldstein, Kim Rose, and Roy E. Disney for their encouragement and
gracious support.