Week 15 - Games and Virtual Worlds

Thank goodness for 2 choices this week. The "virtual worlds" component of this week's exercise would make my head implode if I had to experiment with it. We had to mess around in Second Life when I was in a "libraries and distance education" course at library school. I found it boring and pointless and for better or worse, still do (no offense intended to those who enjoy it.)

So I leaned toward the other games and experimented with Zuma, Bejewelled and Sudoku. I was pretty bad at Bejewelled and more less sat back while my daughter did it (as my able assistant). I did Zuma, though, and that was kind of fun once I figured it out, though I still can't fathom making a special point of going to this website and playing the game just for the fun of it. Maybe if I was waiting for someone and had time on my hands, then I might be inclined to play a video game (just as a time waster while waiting for something better to happen). Sudoku is a game we play as a board game and I also keep a sudoku book handy in the car for more "waiting moments." I'm a product of the 80s and I distinctly recall as a high school student hovering around at the arcade waiting for friends (mainly boys) to be done with the daily dose so as to get on with other things. I had hoped it was just a passing fad....

How to use games in libraries? Personally, I don't really know, beyond perhaps drawing kids to educational games on that part of our website. Opening up the computers to gamers is sufficient, to my mind. I don't really see the point in dragging libraries into Second Life, as though somehow they'll be more relevant to people there than they would be or are in the real world. I actually think we have a big enough problem making people aware of libraries as it is, in the here and now, without dedicating time and resources in putting libraries into fantasy games.

It's too bad this is the last exercise because as I write all this, I feel very, very old and crotchety...