Archive for the ‘Gaming’ Category
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
The Association of Virtual Worlds has published The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide to Virtual Worlds. This free, downloadable book provides a guide, with links, to over 250 virtual worlds along with a glossary. Included are virtual environments for every age group ranging from Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow, Creebies, and Frenzoo, to one of my faves - Neopets, Planet Cazmo, and Scions of Fate. Coming soon: The Green Book: A Business Guide to Virtual Worlds.
Posted in 3D Worlds, Web 2.0, Second Life, Gaming, Guides | No Comments »
Saturday, April 26th, 2008
I just finished reading Jenny Levine’s excellent Library Technology Report - Gaming & Libraries Update: Broadening the Intersections. It’s chock-full of interesting case studies of real library implementations of gaming programs as well as recommended resources. The report covers tabletop (board) games, big games such as LARPing (Live Action Role-Playing), as well as video games. Readers can pick up plenty of game recommendations throughout, but I will be checking further into some of the board games suggested at the end as I noticed a couple of my favorites were listed including Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride.
Posted in Library 2.0, Library Services, Libraries, Gaming | 1 Comment »
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
Sara de Freitas writes a chapter for Volume 3 of the Becta research report, Emerging Technologies for Learning, discussing educational trends, issues, and potential uses of virtual worlds. Other interesting research from this volume includes:
Posted in Library 2.0, 3D Worlds, Web 2.0, Gaming, Reports | No Comments »
Monday, March 24th, 2008
The NYPL offers gaming sessions at 18 of their Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island branch libraries, and owns 2,500 copies of 92 different games available for loan to gamers. The New York Times covers their “Game On @ the Library!” initiative in Taking Play Seriously at the Public Library With Young Video Gamers.
“What we’re seeing is that in addition to simply helping bring kids into the library in the first place, games are having a broader effect on players, and they have the potential to be a great teaching tool,” Mr. Martin said. “If a kid takes a test and fails, that’s it. But in a game, if you fail you get to take what you’ve learned and try again.”
Posted in Library 2.0, Library Services, Libraries, Change & Innovation, Gaming | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
The MySpace social network has added a Games area of its website community which offers single and multiplayer Flash games, the ability to add games to profiles, and to chat with other gamers. These casual games can all be quickly learned and played and include such titles as Mah Jong, Jewel Quest, Backgammon, Sudoku, etc.
via TechCrunch
Posted in Social Software, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Gaming | No Comments »
Monday, January 28th, 2008
The video game industry experienced an exceptional growth rate in 2007, increasing revenues by over 28% and outpacing both music and movies. Console games reigned over their PC counterparts, pulling in nearly 70% of total sales with the the Nintendo Wii console the clear frontrunner.
“The video game industry set the pace over all others in 2007, with record-breaking sales, off-the-charts consumer demand, and innovation reaching from galactic exploration to guitar simulation,” said ESA CEO and president Michael D. Gallagher. “On average, an astonishing 9 games were sold every second of every day of the year.”
via Webb Alert
Posted in Gaming, Reports | No Comments »
Friday, January 18th, 2008
Matt Bolin alerted me to the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries’ Library Arcade. Graduate students from their Entertainment Technology Center have teamed up with the University Libraries to create educational games to help students develop library research skills. They have two games so far - “I’ll Get It” in which players must help fellow students find library resources, and “Within Range”, a library re-shelving game using the LC classification system. They are still in the testing phase, but have made the games available to the public.
Posted in Information Literacy, Library 2.0, Library Services, Libraries, Change & Innovation, Gaming | 2 Comments »
Thursday, December 20th, 2007
I’m all for empowering women to learn about technology, so when Women’s Voices for Change asked me to contribute a piece about educational opportunities in Second Life, I was more than happy to write this article about Learning in a Virtual World. If you’re interested in Second Life learning, you may want to check it out.
Posted in Information Literacy, Library 2.0, Library Services, Learning Spaces, Libraries, 3D Worlds, Web 2.0, Second Life, Gaming, Blogs | No Comments »
Friday, December 14th, 2007
Ohio University Campus
Second Life is a massive virtual world with many opportunities for learning and entertainment. Over 60 colleges and universities have a virtual presence there, and are joined by more than 500 librarians. If you are just starting out in this MMOG (massively multiplayer online game), this guide should get you up and running. Follow the SLURLs (Second Life URLs) by clicking or pasting them into your browser’s address bar and then clicking the “teleport now” button on the page to go to that location, (note: you will need to have established a SL account first & have the program installed).
Library Sites in Second Life
These sites are the 12 islands of the Alliance Library System which make up the Info Archipelago:
Places to Learn about Second Life
(building, working with prims, etc.)
Here are some sites to visit when you’re ready to learn how to build the world around you.
Sights to See
SL Blogs
SL Educational Resources
Videos of Second Life
Key Terminology
Posted in Learning Spaces, 3D Worlds, Web 2.0, Second Life, Gaming | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007
The latest niche to expand in the social networking arena is online communities for gamers, and most prominently for players of MMOG’s or massively multiplayer online games, and MMORPGs or massively multiplayer online role-playing games. This is hardly surprising considering it’s recently been reported that 217 million people worldwide play online games, and that strategists are forecasting the online games market to triple its current $4 billion dollar worth over the next 5 years.
- Second Life Profiles - Social network for Second Lifers.
- GuildCafe - Slick social network for MMORPG players.
- Koinup- Social network for players of SL, WOW, The Sims, IMVU, and others.
- Rupture - Social network for MMORPG gamers, right now aimed at WOW players.
- Warcraft Social - Social network for WOW players.
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WOW on MySpace - Quite an impressive MySpace page for WOW players.
- The Sims Resource - Social network hub for The Sims players.
- GamerVision - Social network for gamers.
- Wii Tube - A YouTube for the Wii community
- MMO Faces - A MySpace-like social network for gamers.
- Sparter - A gamer-to-gamer marketplace.
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Steam - Social network hub for Valve games and more including Call of Duty 2, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike, etc.
- WOW - Rumored to become a World of Warcraft social network in the near future, owned by AOL, see article for details.
Posted in Social Software, 3D Worlds, Web 2.0, Gaming | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
Gaming in libraries is a very hot topic this year. We are seeing gaming presentations at library conferences such as ALA Annual and Computers in Libraries, as well as entire symposiums dedicated to the theme, articles are appearing in major papers such as the Chicago Tribune, and libraries are starting to report on their successes. Here’s a quick guide to some of the resources available related to the gaming in libraries meme. If you know of any others, please share them in the comments!
Presentations
Gaming & Learning
Shu Liu, Tammy Allgood
Computers in Libraries 2007
Gaming in Libraries
Tyler Rousseau
New Jersey Library Association (NJLA)
Games without Borders: Gaming Beyond Consoles and Screens
Liz Lawley
ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium
Gaming in Academic Libraries: The Why and How
ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium
Check out 30 other sessions of the ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium, including .mp3 files and presentation slides!
Reports
The Role of Gaming in Libraries: Taking the Pulse
Scott Nicholson
Online Gaming Is More Popular than Facebook and YouTube
The Shifted Librarian
Console gaming a hit with all ages
Librarian in Black
Worldwide Online Gaming Community Reaches 217 Million People
comScore
In the News
Video games finding space in libraries
Milford Daily News
When ‘Digital Natives’ Go to the Library
Inside Higher Ed
Training for the poor moves into computer age
Chicago Tribune
Critics say ‘Oh no’ to Halo
The Daily Herald
Dewey Decimals and Dance Dance Revolution
The Escapist
Blogs Posts
Oh The Games People Play Now–In Libraries
ALA TechSource Blog
The Future of Gaming
Library Garden
Gaming? But this is an academic library
Librarians Matter
SJCPL’s Save•Point Spawns Crew Website
Skagirlie
Case Studies
Carvers Bay (SC) Branch Library: Gaming the Way to Literacy
WebJunction
Gaming section of the Library Success Wiki
See success stories, lists of libraries hosting gaming programs, etc.
Books
Gamers…in the Library?! The Why, What, and How of Videogame Tournaments for All Ages
by Eli Neiburger
Gaming and Libraries: Intersection of Services
by Jenny Levine
Posted in Library 2.0, Library Services, Gaming | No Comments »
Thursday, August 16th, 2007
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic will give a live concert in Second Life on Friday September 14 at 7:30 pm. According to their website, the RLPO will be the first professional orchestra in the world to give a performance in SL. The orchestra’s Principal Conductor Vasily Petrenko will condcut Ravel’s Sheherazade and Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances. Following the show, orchestra members will take questions at the virtual Grand Foyer Bar. There are a limited number of seats, so those interested are asked to register.
Posted in 3D Worlds, Second Life, Gaming | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007
A special report from BusinessWeek delivers six new articles about gaming. BW discusses the growth of the gaming industry, online games as corporate training devices, games as learning tools, environments for market research, and more. Read them all here.
Posted in Web 2.0, Gaming | No Comments »
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