#makeithappen is taking an idea and acting on it
Game-as-Media & the need for professional reviews.
Justin’s terrific 8bitlibrary.com posted link about needing more Gamers in the library field screams for more on the topic of “Game-as-Media”.
As I’ve posted before, libraries and schools need to view gaming as media (just as we view a printed book as a media form, a film as a media form, an album as a media form…).
What I think I failed to convey in my first post is that game-as-media is separate from the game’s content. Video Games are not a genre, just as books are not a genre. We cannot fairly assess the content of video games until we recognize those games as a new media.
Once schools and libraries accept gaming as a new media, the realization that unique information communities exist around video games will help the game-as-media cause. These communities and bodies of information are no less legitimate or important than any other communities we serve in schools and libraries.
So let me make two statements:
- Video games are a media unto themselves.
- The library profession needs experts in this media, just as we have experts in other media (like books and films).
I’ve already explained the first statement. As far as the second statement goes, librarians are music aficionados, film buffs, and the most avid readers around. However, it is very difficult for libraries to truly give gaming a fair shake if library professionals aren’t playing games.
My solution to bridge the gap between these two statements is to have a proper, professional outlet for reviewing video games. Librarians can’t read every book. Nor can they play every game. Some may not play any games. Reviews in outlets such as LJ and SLJ will give game-as-media the legitimacy it deserves, and will remove the veil of mystery that surrounds gaming in the library community.
Collection Development is heavily influenced by professional reviews. In order for libraries to develop meaningful collections, we need to adopt the game-as-media view, and have experts in the field reviewing games for the rest of the library community.
For the time-being, though, we’ve got a growing library of reviews here on 8bitlibrary.com and a great slate of contributors.
Ironically enough, the need for professional reviewers is something that gaming culture itself is rallying for: a rather, a set of universal standards by which a game’s worth should be measured. Right now, there seems to be two schools of thought:
1) Games are games first, narrative devices second. A game should be judged by its game play mechanics alone, with character development and plot being mere icing on the cake.
2) The days of evolving game play mechanics are over and games are now just as much a narrative device as books and films. Anybody can copy/paste controls from Halo 3; we want to see better stories and characters, and that is how we shall judge games.
I am firmly in the first school, but I have a healthy appreciation for games that allow gamers to create their own stories through game play (though very little games do this well).
It will be interesting to see how gamers decide how to critique games while, at the same time, librarians–gamer or not–trying to decide how to do the same.