How to Run Role Playing Groups in Libraries

This is my mental model of the role playing game. A heated debate on what your elfin paladin must do to help your pals the wizard, cleric, and ranger defeat a gang of marauding trolls.

It's fun, it's cloistering, it's huge, and self-perpetuating. All of this is possible at your library. This recent blog entry from Library Mofo offers a wonderful beginner's how to.

End results:
Personal responsibility, decision making skills, creative writing and basic math skills, imagination, team work, deduction & reasoning, and opening the door to greater discussions of good and evil, justice, and engaging intellectual activity of a different sort----all in service of our biggest goal, which is attracting more folks of all kinds to the library. Many libraries do this. And there are so many games...

So I guess it isn't just the wacky world of wizards, after all.

Why Serious Gaming Shouldn't Be Taken Seriously

Thom Kevin Gillespie. "Why Serious Gaming Shouldn't Be Taken Seriously."
Not only can gamers play, they can create...and for free. All we need are the machines for this increasingly marketable skill.

What Led to This:
--Video projection, paint on the wall/paper image projected.
--Video diary of a violent, cloistered neighborhood, that brought everyone into the library...and they kept coming back.
--Latchkey kids in unscripted situation ~ game design is perfect for this. He had kids move robots around the room, made them talk.
--Entertainment expands this idea.
--Studying a game is playing it.
--DS2 may be the future ~~ a hand held world.

Design:
1.) Big table with markers. It's that simple.
2.) Run through ideas, collaborate, create a 10 page pitch. This takes dozens of hours. Temas coalesce around the best ideas. Many sessions of 5 hours each is the norm.
3.) A game takes 1.5 to 3 years and 50 designers to develop.
--Games for Gangs: great idea, but needs lots of time & effort.
--Jellyvision in Chicago does the "You Don't Know Jack" games. Harry Gottlieb, presents
wonderfully. He will also accept pitches (from patrons)!
4.) Games fail most often due to social, rather than creative, problems.

Open Source Game Design Items:
--Game Engine Blender
--Photoshop Gimp
--Illustrator Inkscape
--Flash osflash.org
----MIT's Scratch allows kids to make games on their own!
----Squeak "programmable toolkit that enables kids to create their own games, animated stories, and interactive art."
----Alice is another great all-in-one.
**As good as professional tools.
**Can be used to design "big games."

Games Pay Big:
--Developing flash, team-building, financial, workshopping, management, etc. skills.
--Blender & Gimp-masters often get hired for 2D and 3D animation jobs.
--Creating financial and intellectual property.

Gaming for Adults

Martin House, Mark Englebecht. "Gaming for Adults."
Click on the link above for an MP3 audio file of this session. Click on Martin for information on this study, findings, and other related info.
Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County
This library used LSTA grant funds to start a program that became so successful that it became a service attracting nontraditional library patrons, increasing usage, most notably reference.

General:
--33 is the average game player age
--Appearing everywhere. The Economist 8/4/2005 talks about how gaming is good for the work force.
--Gamers are voters & advocates.

The Experiment:
--$70,000 LSTA Grant given to see if gaming brings adults into the library. What kind of gaming? Board? PC? Console? How does this affect the library?

Promotion & Some Findings:
--Promoted with fliers. Partnered with game and comic stores. Wore sandwich boards.
--Talking to people is the best form of promotion.
--Nothing mature allowed when kids are around. Kids are always allowed.
--Headphones are a detriment to interaction.
--Had to fight with the resistant who argued that gaming was a useless add-on.
--teaches basic skills, interaction, social learning, and more.
--promotion of library to nontraditional patrons.

Findings:
--Mostly low-income zip codes.
--Mostly male.
--Mostly Afro-American.
--Mostly 26+
--Most had a library card.
--Library usage overall raised, especially reference.
--Increased approachability allowed referring to other resources, making everyone aware of everything the library has to offer.
--Video games attracted more people than traditional games, like board games.
--PS2, Madden most popular.
--Who came: 1.)Walk-in 2.) Friend 3.) Flier & postcard 4.) Website.
--Marketing to conventions, comic cons would help.

Hurdles:
--Funding, staffing, after-hours, equipment coordination, budget for loss, staff buy-in:
--staff events. Put Wii in break room. Promote so staff is conversant/enthusiastic.

The Program:
--Set-up takes one hour. Best to list procedure, equipment, etc. online for easy access.
--Pelican cases or Rubbermaid totes on wheels are best.
--3 to 4 hour events.
--Drop in worked best.
--Play test everything.
--Insurance and security are a must.

Conclusion:
--72 events, 14 branches, 3000 participants.
--from first year, 9 events.
--People come to library, use reference more.
--Started as a program, slowly became a service.