On the path to becoming a gamer...

After reading this week's readings I thought to myself that the future as seen in movies produced in the 1960s is finally here! In virtual worlds, such as Second Life, people can transport themselves across time and distances without leaving the comfort of their own homes. Virtual worlds first appeared to have endless possibilities. I then created an avatar in Second Life to try this out for myself. I found this virtual world to be a little confusing at first because there weren't any instructions clearly laid-out, but the curiosity in me emerged and I was able to play around with the tools to change my appearance and start communicating with others. The first person I talked to was from Bristol, UK, which reinforced my first opinion that this virtual world seemed futuristic because my identity (as I created it) was transported across a distance instantly.

Although many limitations to virtual worlds do exist, such as the fact that virtual worlds can easily be confused with reality (not healthy!), I still believe that libraries should utilize these tools to increase productivity and communicate to a wider audience. Upon further reflection, I also thought that a virtual community would be very effective in the special library I currently work in. As librarians in a corporate environment, we are required to communicate with our counter-parts in Chicago and New York on a daily basis, so having an online community would be very beneficial. We currently do have a Wiki, which is awesome, but I think it would be more personal if we had a virtual world where we could created our own identities and really feel as if we were communicating face-to-face with one another.

I really enjoyed reading Squire and Steinkuehler's 'Meet the Gamers,' because I agree with their argument that gaming and virtual worlds promote the development of information literacy and researching skills. Thus, a vital part of a librarian's role is to promote gaming through the library to enhance these skills, while at the same time promoting the use of the library-as-place. From perusing through the case studies, I was pleased to see that so many libraries and universities are organizing gaming nights, with activities such as rock band tournaments (Ann Arbor district library). It is a delight to see that several libraries have acknowledged the benefits of participating in gaming and the demand associated with it, and are actively pursuing gaming through the library as an outlet.

There is one aspect of Squire and Steinkuehler's argument that I disagree with. These scholars mentioned that the role of librarians as gatekeepers to information is becoming obsolete with the emergence of gaming and virtual worlds; however, I believe that this role has simply transformed with technology. Librarians that embrace gaming and virtual worlds have become gatekeepers of information literacy in a different environment, where their participation is the key to success.

In addition, I also agree with Henry Jenkins' argument that there are high turnover rates when it comes to tools that create virtual communities. As an example, if you take a look at the past decade, ICQ was once the virtual communication tool to have, then this changed and MSN Messenger became popular, which then faded as Facebook made its entrance into the online world. This is significant because it indicates that libraries must not remain static in their ways, and instead must adapt to new technologies to be able to continuously participate with the surrounding community. In addition, not everyone is connected to these technologies, so it is also the responsibility of the library to provide an outlet to these virtual communities for those people that cannot connect to them at home.