GLLS 2007: Games Without Borders-Gaming Beyond Consoles and Screens

Games Without Borders: Gaming Beyond Consoles and Screens
Elizabeth (Liz) Lawley, Director of RIT Lab for Social Technology;
Visiting Researcher, Microsoft Research
Liz's personal blog: mamamusings
Liz also blogs for Terra Nova as well.

She talks a little more about Big Games as being pervasive and breaking down boundaries. She states that the physical spaces are still important and play a role. Shopping in physical spaces and experiences are still important. This is still true for library's as well, there is still meaning and relevance within the space.

"Passively Multiplayer Online Games" embed playfulness into standard and even boring activities. Chore Wars is another example that adds competition to standard activities.

Hold Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments at libraries, we can create those gathering spaces and take advantage of these spaces as community / social interaction.

Liz described some stories about her experiences with her kids and World of Warcraft. They took off limits on gaming and TV and the kids self regulated. Her youngest understood detailed economic content (supply and demand) and ethical lessons through World of Warcraft. Lane Lawley's (Liz's oldest son) is leading the way on civil and social interactions in Teen Second Life. Lane even presented at GLS 2007 about his experiences. Liz made the point that there needs to be places to gain these experiences = libraries.

Gameguides and game artbooks for libraries. She asks the question of "why don't we" include them in library collections?

Liz raised the question about why are we (educators and librarians) not creating "best video game guides?" Why leave it commercial sites or worse, not do it at all. There is not a specific resource for all this information. Without these resources of positive examples of games, parents are left with traditionally negative media coverage of video games.
Who can create guides for librarians, educators, and parents. We can do workshops in libraries and schools and explain the benefits of video games. To be effective in this, Liz argues, that we need to tell stories, not stats.

As an educator and parent, I love the idea of a "Best Video Games for Kids" list. Andrew Bub's Gamerdad does a great job of presenting games in a positive light, but provides parents with the information about the game to make choices. I hope that my current work with GamerDad, on a similar project will help address so of this desire for positive gaming content and parental awareness, so stayed tuned to.

glls2007