Donna Beck

Rachel Callison

John Fudrow

Dan Hood

Carnegie Mellon University Libraries

"..don't use force in training the children in the subjects, but rather games.”

Plato, The Republic (421 BCE)

Project Overview

Why Games

Demo & Questions

Why Games?

Public Libraries

•Marketing

Academic Libraries

•Teaching

2 Distinct Uses

Everyone’s a Gamer

Average Game Player Age is: 33

25% -- 50+ yrs.

44% -- 18-49 yrs.

31% -- under 18 yrs

From Entertainment Software Assocation, 2007.

Why (not) Edu-gaming?

• Cons– Integration– Traditional assessment is boring– Development tools– The "Lame Factor“

• Pros– Learning = Fun?!– No consequence for failure– Master skills in demand by today’s employers– Games offer attributes important for learning

Other Library Gaming Projects

University of Calgary•Hardplay (Future)

Arizona State•Quarantined (2005)

UNC Greensboro•The Information Literacy Game (2004)

Gaming & Culture

•History

•Progress

•New Audiences

As Easy as Pong

World of Information

Virtually Physical

Image used without permission from IGN.com

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/795/795126/big-brain-academy-wii-degree-20070608011557637.jpg

Mental Health

http://media.ds.ign.com/media/899/899492/img_4819084.html

http://media.ds.ign.com/media/740/740437/img_3448533.html

Arcade @ Home

What About the Web?

March 2006 to Present

Project Timeline

[Phase 1] Decide to make games/team forms

(March 2006 ~ August 2006)

[Phase 2] Design and Production of Games

(September 2006 ~ February 2007)

[Phase 3] Testing and Marketing Begins

(March 2007 ~ August 2007)

Our Sites

Library Arcade @ www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries/

etc •Play the games

•Learn about the developers

•Take the survey

Planning Blogcmlibrarygaming.wordpress.com/

•Find references on gaming

•See the survey results

•Share your research on gaming

References• Game Player Data- Fact Sheet, Entertainment Software Association,

http://www.theesa.com/facts/gamer_data.php (Accessed November 5, 2007).

• UNC Greensboro, The Information Literacy Game (2004).• Arizona State, Quarantined (2005).• University of Calgary, Hardplay (2007).• Pong Screenshot, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/Pong.png ,

(2007).• Pokemon Trading Card image taken from Ebay sale reference,

http://mollybol.50megs.com/Mollyweb/Book/Diary%20Pics/pokthur.JPG , (2007).

• Big Brain Academy Screenshot, IGN.com, http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/795/795126/big-brain-academy-wii-degree-20070608011557637.jpg , (Accessed 11/05/2007).

• Flash Focus Screenshot, IGN.com, http://media.ds.ign.com/media/899/899492/img_4819084.html , (Accessed November 5, 2007).

• Brain Age Screenshot, IGN.com, http://media.ds.ign.com/media/740/740437/img_3448533.html , (Accessed November 5, 2007).

• All other images taken from their respective Wikipedia.com entries