Carnegie Mellon University Libraries
Dan Hood
Information Literacy Fellow
LOEX of the West 2008
Las Vegas, NV
"..don't use force in
training the children in
the subjects,
but rather games.”
Plato, The Republic
(421 BCE)
Why Games
Project Overview
Play!
Why
Games?
2 Distinct Uses
Public Libraries
•Marketing
Academic Libraries
•Teaching
Other Library Gaming Projects
UNC Greensboro
•The Information Literacy Game
Arizona State
•Quarantined
University of Calgary
•Hardplay (Future)
Everyone’s a Gamer
Average Game Player Age is:
25% --
33
50+ yrs.
44% --
18-49 yrs.
31% --
under 18 yrs
From Entertainment Software Assocation, 2007.
Is This Our Audience?
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
Gaming & Culture
•History
•Progress
•New Audiences
As Easy as Pong
World of
Information
Virtually Physical
Mental Health
http://media.ds.ign.com/media/740/740437/img_3448533.html
http://media.ds.ign.com/media/899/899492/img_4819084.html
Arcade @ Home
What About the
Web?
The
Library
Arcade
Project
The Grant
•$50,000
•“to develop and promote engaging, webbased information literacy tutorials for
students throughout Southwestern
Pennsylvania and beyond”
•Build on momentum from Eden Hall
$168,000 grant
•Stipulations
•Must be an Outreach Component
•Open Source/Customizable/Easily
Modded
The Team
• Librarians
• Biomedical, Chemical, Materials
Engineering
• Software Engineering
• Information Literacy
• ETC Faculty Advisor
• ETC Students
•
•
•
•
•
Computer Science
Electronics/Communication
Fine Art
Psychology
Journalism
ETC
• Entertainment Technologies
Center
• Masters of Entertainment
Technology, 2 year degree
• Semester-long project
• Team is design firm
Project Timeline
March 2006 to Present
[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)
User Testing & Feedback
•In Library and Student Union
•Assessment
•Survey Monkey
Game One
Game Two
Game Three
Game Four
Problems
•Library Centricity!
•Working with an inexperienced team
•META Problem – ACRL Standards
•Bandwidth…have some on hand
Future Directions
•Get more $$$
•Complete games 3 & 4
•Track players’ progress
•Add storyline (wrapper)
•Create a new team
•Marketing plan
Recommendations
•Overestimate budget
•Overestimate time investment
•Have a champion (project manager, leader)
•If outsourcing, be strict with designers
•Learn Flash?!
Our Sites
Library Arcade
www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries/etc
•Play the games
•Learn about the developers
•Take the survey
Planning Blog
cmlibrarygaming.wordpress.com/
•Find references on gaming
•See the survey results
•Share your research on
gaming
U Haz Questions?
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-brainacademy-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