In his book, Scott Nicholson breaks down the objectives of gaming into three components.
1) Play "Without the aspect of play, games also lose their motivational power to inform. A game without play is not a game (Nicholson 3)."
2) Structure ("Many children (and adults) do not bother with the rules and play with the components of the game as a toy. While this is play, it is not a game until rules are imposed (Nicholson 4)."
3) Goal ("The goal gives the play a purpose, allows players to improve, and sets limits on the activity (Nicholson 4).")
In school growing up, I encountered two distinct classes of games: The games we would play during recess like Sorry or The Game of Life had no obvious educational goal, but were enjoyable with colorful bits and mechanisms to move them around. I appreciated when teachers tried to incorporate "gaming" into the classroom, but often there was an outwardly educational goal, rather than a goal of playing the game, so we were often turned off by the experience. Good games are surprising in that they incorporate the concept of play as much as possible, but present us with choices and consequences for those choices that create learning experiences.
In teaching my games to younger children, I've found that players enjoy the plastic figures or artwork on the cards, and become more fascinated with them than the game itself! With rules in school, at work, and at home, they ask why they'd want rules when they're supposed to play! Surprisingly, adults and even people my age feel constrained by the rules if a game is too complicated or not taught in an accessible way. As Nicholson mentions (Nicholson 4), rules are surprisingly flexible and can be played around with too. However, a lot of games are so much fun there's no reason to alter the rules - the challenge is getting players past the rules and into the gaming.
But even when a good gaming experience is found, it must naturally have an end. A goal gives the experience a proper end, guides players in what they should do, and prevents the game from losing focus and growing more chaotic. Goals are also surprisingly flexible and rarely restrict players in how they want to go about playing a game. However, it's the goal of the game that faciliates the conversations after the game, and brings players back to the gaming table. In fact, some of my best gaming experiences have come in realizing I completely missed the goal!
Libraries and games seem like a complete mismatch, and I certainly never had gaming experiences in my schools' libraries. However, book reading is just as much of a recreational activity as picking up a video game, and the two disciplines are not as far apart as people think. This is not to say that a video game is just as educational as a book, but the goals and context of the activity are very similar. I was surprised to learn that the history of gaming in libraries goes back all the way to the 1800's, as "libraries have hosted bridge and Scrabble clubs, integrated games with summer reading and storytime programs, and provided access to computer games as a way to help people learn and become comfortable with computers (Nicholson 6)."
Board games have a rich history tracing back all the way to Ancient Egypt (you can learn about SENET, one of the first board games). I would be fascinated to learn how the Egyptians designed this game, and how gaming evolved as a hobby even in the early stages of civilization. I would want to learn about such a game in a library, and include it in a paper I was writing about Ancient Egypt. Nicholson acknowledges the power both gaming and the library can have when teamed together: "Gaming can provide inspiration for reading and research; libraries have the ability to tap the motivational facet of games to inspire a patron to learn more about a topic area through traditional library services (Nicholson 7)."
Nicholson's book got me thinking about turning gaming into an educational experience for our youth (as well as the people who feel they're old dogs who can't learn new tricks!), and he's does a great job of explaining how games can potentially have a transformative impact on libraries and their patrons. The challenge I see in Nicholson's quest is how to promote book-reading when gaming seems like more of an enticing option. It would seem to me that a mixture of educational experiences, such as reading, movie-watching and gaming would be ideal, but kids like to play - and you can't play a book. Gaming can certainly be a gateway towards other educational experiences, but when kids are growing up I think they should have a balance of entertainment, leisure, and study.
Nevertheless, I find my personal goals for introducing and teaching games largely in sync with Mr. Nicholson, and I think he sums them up perfectly with this assertion: "Games can build bonds between members of a community who would never otherwise meet, such as teens and seniors playing Wii Bowling together, and libraries offer the safe space for this to happen (Nicholson 11)." When I see adults with perplexed looks as their children sit down and play a video game, I find myself curious as to how I could get them to play together and improve communication skills between the two. With the advent of online multiplayer games, there is also a lot less face-to-face interaction between gamers and their partners. A library (or a regular game night, as I do) is a great environment to balance the lack of contact.
Not all games and gaming experiences are ideal for this convergence. Games geared towards the professional scene like Street Fighter or Call of Duty, while best-sellers, also have a steep learning curve and are challenging to introduce to a beginner. On the other hand, a board game like Ticket to Ride has something for everyone, with colorful trains for the kids enticed by toys, and gaming mechanics reminiscent of Rummy for the adults looking to compete and play with their friends utilizing strategy and clever plays. For me, the ideal game is one that is 'easy to pick up; difficult to master' and Ticket to Ride certainly fits that bill.
Teaching kids about history, the value of being a humble winner (and not a sore loser!), and most importantly teaching them the concept of making the best of a difficult situation (one constrained by rules) rather than complaining about the rules and trying to bend them, are just some of the positive experiences that can be garnered by gaming. I find it encouraging the gaming is being seen less as a niche, and discussions about great games are being held in equal regard to great movies or novels. I can confidently say Scott Nicholson is one of my gaming idols, and I highly recommend his book if you want to learn more about legitimizing gaming as a worthwhile activity in our daily lives.
