Gaming Blog Network

In terms of gaming happenings, today proved quite interesting. Prior to my trip to the library, I spent sometime with a PSN demo of the game Echochrome, a game whose goals center on players maneuvering the field to allow the player to progress. Playing this demo caused me to think about perspective, and how it is applied to the world of video games.

This ‘perspective’ is largely derived from games’ negative reputation; this can be attributed to their less than savory portrayals in the media. To most media officials, gamers are nothing more than helpless shut-ins…if you are male, of course. If you are female, you are either unattractive or lack social graces. Interestingly, for female gamers, the worst criticisms tend to come from gamers themselves, a trend that is highlighted by Morgan Webb of G4 below.

However, if articles like this one are any indication, it will lead to individuals having an improved ‘perspective’ about video games.

One person who posesses that ‘improved perspective’ is Lisa Kreutter, the Reference and Young Adult Librarian at the Delray Beach Public Library in Delray Beach, FL. Having spent my summer assisting her with coordinating the Gaming Night, I took my last day to ask her about the origins of her library’s gaming night along with the effects of having video games pepper library landscapes.

Her audio responses can be read below each of the questions that I submitted to her:

1. Could you first tell me how ‘game night’ at the Delray Beach Library started? Was it the idea of one person or a collective group?

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2. Despite video games’ increased popularity and acceptance in society, the concept of their inclusion into libraries is still regarded as a foreign concept. Why do you think this is the case and what can be done to change it?

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3. Do you believe that video games can aid cognitive skills and/or eye-hand coordination? If not, what skills do you think games can impart to children?

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4. Do you think that libraries like yours that choose to dedicate their resources to gaming play a role in dispelling the notion that game playing is ‘counterproductive?’

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5. Finally, in describing your library’s ‘game night,’ what can you recall as the most memorable moment that occurred? What about the least? Also, what do you think can be done to increase this event’s popularity?

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In speaking to her, I really gained a greater insight into some of the crucial inroads that games are making on their way to achieving societal acceptance. I hope there will come a day where games will be able to stand side-by-side with books and be treated with the same amount of respect.