Addressing Diversity in Our Kids Apps
Fri, Oct. 16 2015
We were recently contacted by a mom who had downloaded Marble Math Junior for her daughter and was upset to find that our game only offered light-skinned avatar choices. I was taken aback. My defenses immediately triggered a burst of excuses: We made that app a long time ago. Going back to old apps to make updates pulls us away from current projects. If we make a change for one app, we have to make it for all - which of course requires time and money. Most of all, how could someone accuse us, Artgig Apps, your friendly team of kids app developers, of being insensitive? But after that, after all of the excuses, it dawned on me...she was right. And it was a pretty quick decision to make a change - to do better.
We’ve spent the last couple of weeks updating the avatar maker in all of our apps so that kids can make the avatar any color they want. It’s a small change, but it’s an important one.
Stay tuned - the updates will be available soon on the App Store.
If you’re interested in the issue of diversity in children’s apps, here’s an excellent Guardian article, featuring perspectives from some of the best and brightest in the business, and a post from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center.
