GLL: What Librarians Can Learn from Gamers

note: Georgia State Univ. has a gaming night. Could be a good resource for info.

George Needham, OCLC
What Librarians can learn from gamers

How gamers can show librarians a new way of developing & sharing knowledge.

Why should someone from OCLC be invited to a conference in gaming?
2003 OCLC environmental scan: pattern recognition

trends
(i missed trend#1)
2 web makes it possible to aggregate info in the groups we need
3 collaboration

gamers illustrate all 3 trends

gamers represent a change in how we use the internet & web

1st video game- “tennis for two” 1958
1st computer game “spacewar” 1962
1st home video game “pong” 1975
Nintendo (1983-Japan, 1985-US) Game Boy 1989
Air warrior 1987 1st multiplayer online game (cost $10 per hour to play!)

How many gamers are there? According to Michael Tchong:
83,000,000 gamers – evertying from online backgammon to Battleground 2
80% penetration of households with children
about half of college-age online gamers are women
$11.2 billion-a-year industry (2003)

What makes them so special?
People that grew up with these games, perceive the world differently than their parents or grandparents do. Sesame Street addressed this difference in learning & perception 30 years ago.

Public TV rocks! So did Sesame Street actually help push this difference between the generations forward? When George mentioned Sesame Street, I remembered when I was in grade school, the first game they got for the school library computer (it might have been a Commodore 64) was a Sesame Street game. In 4th grade at the time, I never got to play it, because I believe it was for K-3. We got to play math games on the TRS-80 machines, which seemed dull compared to the Sesame Street game which was in color!

Digitial Immigrants—have learned to use the technology to varying degrees, and did not grow up with it. The Digital immigrants— conventional speed, linear processing, linear thinking, text, process, reality, technology: uneasy partner

Digital natives: “twitch” speed, parallel processing, random access, audio-pictorial, payoff, fantasy, technology: friend

"Born with the chip” Stephen Abram

Format-agnostic
Nomadic
Multitasking
Experiential
Collaborative
Integrated
Principled
Adaptive
Direct

The gamer’s view of life.. John Beck

Gamers are always the hero of their own games
The world is a logical, human-friendly place
It’s natural to move between taks (multitasking is the norm)
Multiple paths to “victory” but winning really is everything
Failure along the way is not only an option, it’s to be expected
Leaders can’t be trusted

Gamers: compete, collaborate & create

We should:
Rethink how we offer our servives
Multiple paths
Many formats, platforms
Consider the non-print learner
Librarian as “information priest” is as dead as Elvis
What can the user contribute?

Rethink where we offer services:
Physical library layout (we serve the people who enter the building, with the stuff in the building really well.)
If 25% of the time spent on library websites was spent on getting library websites integrated on OTHER sites, we’d really have something, because a library website is not the destination. People rate search engine results & library websites as the same. So we’re not doing a good job letting people we know what we do.

We need to be where the users are. [read Stephen Abram for more on this!]
library toolbars for their browsers, blogs, RSS, podcasting, IM, and make sure you're listed in the search engines the patrons are using!

What should librarians learn from this?
Rethink privacy on this new context.

Short cuts, not training [present computer classes as "short cuts" or "tips n tricks" not (dull) "training"]
Risk-taking and trial-and-error are OK
Expertise is more important than titles or credentials
Can LIS learn from gaming academic programs?
People are beginning to understand that gaming appeals to a different learning style.

Make the case for this from the Board’s point of view. Put it in their perspective & goals, and there’s nothing wroing with using their goals to push through your goals.

How do we apply this now?
Play an online game once in a while
Stock cheat books in your library (shows gamers you want them in the library, and adds another type of item to the collection.)
Offer services on IM, use text messaging (1 reason some people are saying they don’t use the library is because they don’t IM)
Throw a LAN party in your library
Bring digital natives into your planning process (even if they don’t have an MLS)
Respect non-print learners

Libraries are not now, and never have been the 1st place people go for information in the 1950’s—libraries were 7th on the list.

Public Library Data Service—from PLA, report includes who charges for which services. One thing to remember is: people will pay for convenience. Public space is a premium.

Gameskanker.com recommend a website for cheat codes, instead of referring the kids back to the “box of books” model.

If there isn’t somebody in your community who hates what you’re doing, then you’re not doing enough!--George


tag: gaminginlibraries2005