ABSTRACT
Toys, games, and media are merging inexorably into a seamless blend of entertainment, information, education, and play. Although traditional toys and play have not lost their appeal, technology is increasingly applied to the pursuit of pleasure. And pleasure in the form of computer-mediated activities and games is increasingly applied in the pursuit of more purposeful goals such as education in the form of “edutainment” or, more directly, as educational toys and computer games. In Toys, Games, and Media, the focus is on the interplay, so to speak, between traditional toys and play and those mediated by or combined with digital technology. The discussion considers how traditional and technology-enhanced toys are used in traditional play and in new ways of playing, and how these are woven into children’s lives.
