The second site I stumbled upon is the site for the Video Game Voters Network. This is a group that is dedicated toward helping gamers stand up for their rights and for the rights of free speech in relation to video games. They encourage viewers to join and take action by being voters and by writing to our senators in opposition to the Family Entertainment Protection Act. The site also has all sorts of interesting info in regards to gamer facts, violence in video games, and issues surrounding video games.

The last site is a blog called Game On. This is a blog is contributed to by people in libraries and it deals with video game news and reviews. It is a great place to go to find the latest news about video games and good insight about how they relate to libraries.

Here are the URLs for the above mentioned sights.

http://groups.google.com/group/LibGaming

http://www.videogamevoters.org/

http://www.libgaming.blogspot.com/

On Sunday night we had one of our video game tournaments at the library and it was a very fun night. We were originally going to have what we were calling an old school video game night. We wanted to have a Nintendo, Atari, Sega, and maybe others in an attempt let the kids see some of the games that we grew up on, as well as some of their parents. Instead once we assessed the systems we had available it turned into more of a history of Nintendo night. We had a Nintendo Gamecube hooked up to our projection screen as well as two TVs using an original Nintendo and a Super Nintendo. All we did was hook these systems up, buy some pizza and let the kids in the door. Once the kids were in there was nothing for us to do but play with them and occasionally make sure the shy kids were getting a chance at the games as well. All the Kids had a blast playing. They all seemed to enjoy all of the games, both new and old.

One of the most interesting things I have noticed each time we do this are the parents’ reactions. When we first started hosting these I thought some of the parents might find them to be a waste of time or useless. However the reaction has been quite the opposite. When told about the tournaments, the parents are often more excited than the kids are. At the events the parents are very interested too. Some parents just use it as a time to get stuff done, either they stay at the library and do some work, or they come back when it is over to pick up the kids. However the majority of the parents like to participate. They will often stand behind the kids watching and laughing while asking all sorts of questions about how the games are played and what is going on. Many of the parents will actually join in on the games. Sunday night we had almost every parent playing one game or another whenever they could. One mother would actually trash talk with the kids she was playing against and would often forget that she should give her controller up at the end of the game to a kid who was waiting. All the parents however when the event is over are usually very thankful and glad that we hosted it.

These experiences just get more fun each time as we get used to hosting them. I would highly recommend trying one at any library because they are fun and they are a great way for the librarians to really get to know some of your teens and tweens as well as their parents.

Hosting a tournament can be very simple or very complicated depending on what you want to make of it. Ann Arbor District Library is an example of a library that has a very complicated and expensive gaming program, which is done exceedingly well. They have a lot of equipment and they make use of it in some interesting ways. These tournaments are well described in an article written by Erin Helmrich and Eli Neiburger, two employees of AADL. The article is entitled “Video Games as a Service: Hosting Tournaments at Your Library” and can be found in the Feb 2005 issue of VOYA.

A smaller library like my own however can easily host a video game night without many resources or finances. We make use of video game consoles owned by our staff. If you have any younger staff at your library, often times this means pages, than you have staff members who likely own videogame systems. Other than a video game system and a game all you would need is a screen to play them on. Our library system owns a projector and a large screen so we use that for our primary game. Often we will also bring in a small TV for more kids to play on. From there we will find a good game to use as the focus of the evening. If the game is competitive then we will make the event a tournament, with some sort of prize, such as a $10 or $20 gift certificate to a game store. Two games that work great for this are Mario Kart Double Dash or Super Smash Brothers Melee. If it is a tournament all that is left is arranging some sort of bracket system to keep track of the winners and losers and you are good to go. If it is not to be a tournament night all you need to do is have the games available for the kids to play. One great game to look into is Dance Dance Revolution, this is a fun and energetic dancing game. The kids will know how to play them, or at least be able to figure it out. You simply need to sit back and make sure everybody is happy. They kids will love it if you play with them, especially if they can beat you at the game, but if you cant or wont play don’t let that stop you from having a game night.