Are you a 598er?

For those following the tweets this week you probably saw some of us discussing a class meet-up on SL. Well a few of us managed to get together. Gabber Delicioso (GC), Isobel Jinx (JH), Mira Delicioso (TK), Oracle Rothmanay (RR) and me, Himawari Yuhara.

The final verdict--- Wandering around dazed and confused as a group is a lot more fun then wandering dazed and confused by yourself.

We met up and figured out how to teleport to Info Island where we marveled at the Mystery Manor. After a brief stop at the Christie Cottage, Gabber and Oracle asked me to show them where the Santa was I had talked about in a previous post. We tromped on over to the winter wonderland display, sat on Santa's lap and took pictures.
































Gabbers and Oracle take turns on Santa's lap.


About this time is when Mira and Isobel joined us. We talked for a bit, tried to figure out some technical problems and I learned how to stop flying without landing in a tangled heap.

Another pic:

We decided to look at the Banned Books area of the Info Island. Once of us had been there previous and she wanted to show us.

While waiting for the teleport invitation we were approached by a male avatar. However, before we received an answer to that all important question that would determine if we would be willing to speak with him or not --"Are you a 598er?"--It was time to teleport.

Once the area rendered it was indeed worth looking around. After a brief rendition of Romeo and Juliet, however, it was time for us to part ways.

Johnson redux

As I stated in my last post on "Everything Bad is Good For You", I think Johnson makes a very convincing argument. I have in the past argued the benefits of table top RPGs but I had never thought about this in the context of video games, movies and TV. There is much more to all of these then their content. That said, I don't believe the content can be completely ignored. There is some content that simply is not appropriate for certain ages/players. As librarians, we are called to provide information and materials without judgment or bias and I believe in that very strongly. On the other hand, we have separate sections for children, YAs and adults for a reason.

So what can we learn-

• We now have more ammunition for defending programs like video game nights and movie nights. (Its about more then just pulling kids into the library)
• If we don't offer such programs, then it would be a good idea to start
• This is one more way libraries can help bridge the digital divide, by making video games available to kids who can't play at home and thus are missing the benefits
• It could be worthwhile to create some information literacy games (as some libraries have already done)
• We shouldn't make assumptions at least until we have tried something ourselves
• We can use pop culture to spark interest in delving deeper into a subject (Like Ninja Gaiden? Take a look at these books/programs/web resources about Japanese weapons!)

Class suggestions

I have really enjoyed this class. The subject matter works very well in an online form, using the technologies as part of the class really reinforces what we are learning.

As for what changes I would make, here are a few suggestions.

I would keep the ‘monkeys with typewriters’ reading, it makes for a great discussion starter.

The Social Life on Information, however, I really did not benefit from as much. I would replace this, perhaps in favor of specific blog posts of professionals using this technology.

Several people have mentioned moving social networking to an earlier point in the class. I agree. That would give us more time to explore how these can be used and would be helpful in connecting with classmates.

As I mentioned in my previous post, a SL class met up would be fun and helpful.

Second Life

After reading some of the other blog posts I'm not sure if i should be relived or disappointed that my time in SL was so ... quiet.

The first time I logged on, I spent some time in the learning area just trying to figure things out. I spent some time working on my appearance but was rather disappointed that I could change so many tiny details like lip thickness but could not change my clothes. I talked to one girl(?) what was even more lost and confused then I was. (She had somehow gotten stuck as a glowing cloud) She eventually decided to try logging out and back in again and at this point my computer was running so slow that I logged out as well.

The second time, I tried changing my hair so at least that would be different from everyone else, however the 'hair' my avatar came with was apparently attached to her hat and the hair I could change was an entirely different entity. After creating a truly bizarre look, I scrapped it all and went out to explore. I landed in this Japanese garden/pavilion area that was quite pretty (though I felt a bit jealous of the several avatars in very pretty dresses that I saw).

I wondered about the burning Christmas tree, played with a ball and then moved on to Info Island.

By this time my computer was running really slow, to the point where my avatar was walking in slow motion when she was moving at all. I eventually managed to sit on Santa's lap and got a snapshot after my camera angle stopped freaking out.

I wandered around info island a little bit, there were only a few people there and no one talked to me. I explored the library and then found a nice couch to curl up on in the manga section.

Overall SL is a lot to take in all at once. I think as I became more comfortable with the world it would be a lot more fun. If possible I thing a class meetup in SL would be a lot of fun, giving us a social interaction without having to deal with some of the stranger strangers.

In Which I Fail at Kicking a Soccer Ball

I checked out the miniclip games website because it looked like it had a lot of games with multiple players rather then trying to find a certain friend on the web and challenging them.

I found a penguin game that looked cute and attempted to play that.

Warning: The following screencast contains much confused wanderings.

You can see me play here.

Chosing a console

These are the questions that would help inform my decision--

• What is popular at the moment? While I don't want to follow every fad, I do want a system that will draw people in.


• Does it tend to have more multi-player games or single player games?


• Pricing, how much extras you need to buy?


• Range of appeal


• Who is my target audience? Will I only be running teen game nights, or is there interest in family game nights as well?
  
• What kind of space do I have?
• Are there certain games that my teen group (or other patrons) have expressed interest in?
  

Most of my decision will be based on community profiling and seeing where my patron's interest lies. Once I have a sense of that, I would check out the official web pages for each system, which should also give me an overview of the games they offer. I would check out Wired for reviews of the major systems.

http://www.wired.com/reviews/productlisting/gaming_gear

Jenny Levine's presentation also gave some links that would be helpful for researching staring a gaming program in the library. I would also look at what other libraries have and how those systems are working for them.

For information of what games would be a good choice for the library, Gamespot has some good reviews.

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews.html

I would choose to buy a Wii for the library. It has a wide range of multi-player games and can appeal to a wider range of audience and experience levels. The motion sensing aspect also have a large 'cool' factor.

Depending on my budget, I would also like to get an xBox 360 for variety, the excellent graphics and to appeal to the more serious gamers.

Screencasting

I have found the following to be helpful:

• Always do a test run to make sure everything is working properly
• At the same time check where/how new windows appear so that they will be inside your recording area
• If possible try to avoid having to resize windows during the screencast
• I haven't tried reading from a script, but mentally going over what I want to say is very helpful
• The more I screencast the easier it is