Week 10: REFLECT -- The role of gaming in libraries

I definitely see a role for gaming in libraries. Already some libraries provide game consoles as a way to entertain kids, but there could be so much more. Big things among school and college students are LAN parties, community socials where everyone brings a computer or console to a space and have a highly social experience playing multiplayer games. Within this idea would be great opportunities from an education standpoint, too.

Image: http://www.xbox360achievements.org/images/news/portal-2-chell.jpg

The best example of games being implemented into an educational purpose would be Valve using Portal as a way to teach physics and have kids create in the classroom. If we had sandbox and puzzle games like Portal 2, Minecraft or Cube World as educative tools, like one would use an art room to design creations. As well, historical games such as Civilisation V and Shogun 2 would be invaluable to a library in helping students learn about how battle strategy was conducted as well as famous battles of the era.

Image: http://leady247.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/dw3_20.jpg

For me, I grew up playing Dynasty Warriors 3 (link is to one of my favourite missions in all of gaming -- based on the real life Yellow Turban Rebellion). And as a result, I learned about major battles and real life people from the Three Kingdoms dynasty in China’s history. Age of Empires II gave me a general understanding of many major campaigns in the Middle Ages before I even stepped foot in a history class. These games can be both fun and educational, and I believe that dismissing them as merely time wasters is both missing the point and ignorant.

Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Gone_Home.png

Libraries are places of learning and community, somewhere to go and pick up a book to whisk you off to a different world. Video games do the exact same thing. Stories come in many different mediums, learning comes in different forms, and community can be fostered in these. Games like Gone Home and Depression Quest actually break barriers and can expose people to perspectives and stories they might not otherwise have experienced.

Gaming is fast maturing as a great medium for storytelling, and libraries, the place where stories are kept, should make use.

If you'd like to read more on my thoughts about gaming, I've written a post about player positioning in games on my CLN647 blog: http://benharkin647.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/week-8-video-games-and-player.html