Everyone Plays at the Library: Creating Great Gaming Experiences for All Ages

Citation

Calvert, P. (2011), "Everyone Plays at the Library: Creating Great Gaming Experiences for All Ages", The Electronic Library, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 415-416. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471111149838

The place of games within libraries has become quite a hot topic in recent years. This is due to the increasing popularity of computer‐based games running on PCs and dedicated games consoles such as the Wii, but as the Nicholson points out early in his book, games such as chess have been played in libraries for more than a century and still have a place. He considers card, board, and other non‐digital games as much a part of his brief as the newer computer‐based breed.

There is more to introducing games and gaming into a library than just the “how” to do it; there is the very significant question of “why” that needs an answer, for without a solid justification for its presence gaming might be unsustainable. Nicholson covers both the how and the why. Readers looking to justify gaming in libraries will find it best explained in chapter nine, for here the author describes how games can be used to attract otherwise “underserved” users such as teens, and adults without children. The library, he explains, can become a community hub through games nights because games can be a “social lubricant”. Two other reasons for introducing gaming are first, to extend and integrate the services provided for “active” users, and second, to create a bit of publicity.

Nicholson has developed a method of describing five different gaming experiences that he calls “archetypes”. Knowledge gaming draws upon experiences from the external world that the player brings to the game; Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit being well‐known examples. Strategy games, which are often turn‐based, include chess and Go; Civilization is a popular computer‐based strategy game. Action games, in which the players have to move themselves, will include Guitar Hero – it is here that the new technology of motion sensing makes a big difference to the player's experience. Narrative games, as one might suppose, can be based upon literature such as the enormously popular Harry Potter series, but for many digital gamers it is almost certainly the World of Warcraft that they will think of first. Social gaming experiences focus on interactions between players as real people, not just as the characters they play, hence all party games fall into this grouping, and World of Warcraft is often seen in this light.

For each archetype Nicholson suggests which demographic group will be most likely to enjoy the experience, and how it could be done in a library: for example, using knowledge based games as part of reading programmes can increase the effectiveness of both gaming and information literacy teaching. This is solid practical advice and it will be very useful to librarians wishing to add gaming to their range of activities but unsure how best to do it, or even how to justify it to funding agencies.

This book may be most relevant to school and public librarians, but there are some references to using games in an academic environment as well. It includes chapters on how to promote gaming, including looking for partnerships, and how to assess how well the provision of gaming is meeting the mission of the library. I recommend it for all public library managers, school librarians, and LIS students who will no doubt be very interested.