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Why Games?March 16, 2009 So here’s the core question: do games belong in libraries? Or perhaps you’ve heard it in the declarative: Games do not belong in libraries.I think games belong in libraries, for many reasons. (No, you get zero points for predicting that.) You’ll hear me talk about the reasons in depth over the weeks and months to come -- here and beginning with the 5/15 issue of LJ itself. For now I’ll select a few high points. There are so many, it’s hard to know where to start, frankly. Games fit the mission of libraries to support the recreational and entertainment needs of their constituency. If a library offers movies, music, romance novels, potboiler mysteries, craft and hobby how-to books, and hiking guides, then there is no reason not to carry strategy guides, game world atlases, cheat code books, game-based novels, and games for checking out. (Ingram and Baker & Taylor both offer video games.)  Collection development guides should be revised, if necessary, to address the full scope of appropriate materials. If there are knitting clubs, art programs, and children’s storytimes — there can be RPG clubs, RockBand tournaments, and Senior Scrabble.Games relate to books and literacy, the library’s traditional focus. Game-based novels abound. A number of NYT bestselling authors learned their craft writing scenarios, rulebooks and novels for games, and other authors use games as research or subject matter. Many games are based in and expand on settings created in literary works. Games are story, lore, and language that players can become intimately invested in. Young children seek out books about Pokemon, and their language skills ramp up to parse the deeply nested, conditional sentences on the playing cards themselves. Game-specific websites, wikis, review sites and fan sites offer vast quantities of words written on games, often with highly specialized vocabulary. Fan fiction on games is voluminous. While I'm talking libaries, games, and literacy, let me note that the Libraries, Literacy, & Gaming Grant Applications are due this Friday, March 20, 2009 by 11:59pm. If you haven't completed your application (linked here), please do so. Ten libraries will be selected to receive a one-time grant of $5000 pursuant to the Verizon Foundation gaming and literacy grant awarded to ALA at last year’s Annual in Anaheim. Games are not trivial, childish, nor a mere waste of time. If someone hasn’t read any book since Dick & Jane, or played any game since Chutes & Ladders, it would be easy to assume this of both books and games. Just like books, games come in many sizes, flavors, depths, and they appeal to many different tastes. Libraries just dipping their toes in the gaming pool are necessarily choosing games with a relatively low buy-in to start with, but that does not mean the hobby is only about the shallow end of the pool. We need not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Size matters. The people who play games regularly are too large a proportion of the population for libraries to pretend do not exist. We constantly service much smaller niche constituencies with our programs, our books, with our reference works. Money spent on games presently outstrips money spent on movies or music, and we give plenty of support to those. Television watching is giving way to the less passive entertainment value of online gameplay. Games are typically interactive and social. After all, one needs opponents against which to play, even if they’re not in the same room! Even online gamers regularly play with and against their real-life friends and family members, and make new friends through games. Using a library meeting room to hold a gaming event should be a no-brainer. As libraries progress toward becoming a “third place,” gaming programs support the social interactivity of the community. Research counts. A decade of solid, academic, peer-reviewed research is coming down repeatedly in support of evidence that the benefits of being a game hobbyist far outweigh the negatives. Media publicity about games often follows the journalistic principle of “if it bleeds, it leads.” Games are a “soft target” because today’s games are a relatively new pop culture phenomenon, and new is always scary for some. Getting all the facts behind negative press and negative research often exposes a rather different picture from what is initially presented. As conservative as libraries can be, we have no business cowing to fear-mongering and bad science. I tend to focus on games in public libraries because that’s my professional experience in libraries. Academic and special libraries aren’t off the hook, though. Phoenix College librarians have been holding game events supporting career development curricula by bringing game industry professionals to talk about what it’s like working in the industry. The study reported in Archives of Surgery1 (2007) found laparoscopic surgeons  performed more efficiently and with fewer errors if they’d been video game players when younger; could a medical library consider helping them update their skills instead of watching them head out to the golf course? Would a historical society’s library consider programming with Civilization or Rails through the Rockies? If not, why not?If I’m preaching to the choir here, I’m also seeking to enlist you to speak out — speak up and speak out to your colleagues, to your administrators, to the Powers That Be, to the media and the nay-sayers and the politicians. I can’t be everywhere but you are. Most of the assertions above have been detailed in many venues should you find yourself in need of citations; a good place to start is the ALA Gaming Resources wiki. 1Rosser, Jr., J., Lynch, P., Cuddihy, L., Gentile, D., Klonsky, J., & Merrell, R. (2007). Impact of video games on training surgeons in the 21st century. Archives of Surgery, 142, 181-186. Posted by Liz Danforth on March 16, 2009 | Comments (5)
March 16, 2009
In response to: Why Games? Earl Billick commented: Saw your panel this past weekend at Tucson Festival of Books. Libraries and Gaming cannot ask for a better champion. Keep up the great work!
March 16, 2009
In response to: Why Games? Leila Duncan commented: Great job on the short and sweet of Why Games. Literacy connections, problem-solving, social skill building--how could any YA librarian not be slotting in some type of gaming programming?! Gaming connects us to teens, and if we connect with them now they will be with us for life.
March 16, 2009
In response to: Why Games? Jen Maney commented: Oh, I am so glad LJ has you to voice what the rest of us can only stammer out in bits and pieces. Great article, and when the next person nay-says, I'll refer them here!
March 19, 2009
In response to: Why Games? Greg Backus commented: Not a librarian myself - but I was always grateful (as a kid) to find a game section in the local library.
May 28, 2009
In response to: Why Games? Cari commented: /wave from Fredna of Scarlet Crusade! Thanks for the great article! We do lots of gaming stuff at my library (Twinsburg Public) - in particular LAN gaming nights with TF2 and Left 4 Dead. I never thought I'd be a shooter kind of gal, but I have way too much fun with those games. Between them and WoW, I don't have time for any others!
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